Never Shall We Die Chapter 3 (1602 fanfiction)
Holy crap, I got it done. *looks shocked and amazed* It seems my 1602 muses are back in the swing of things... maybe that means I can get my prompt table done too! Woo! Oh and the title of the chapter... *chuckles* actually is a nod to the bit of canon I worked in from the actual Marvel 1602 story. Anyway, here is the third installment. Hope you all enjoy it.
Title: Never Shall We Die
Universe: Marvel 1602
Characters/pairings: Umm... damn near all of them, and an OFC
Warnings: M/F, first time
Disclaimer: Marvel owns the recognizable characters and the world this is set in. I do not make any claim on any of them. I make no money from this little endeavor.
Chapter 1: News, Chapter 2: Remembrance
“I am not going anywhere.” John stepped forward as she backed away from him. “Lee, please believe me.”
She shook her head. “I do believe you, John. I believe that you feel you need to live up to your promises.”
“No,” He rested his hands on her hips. For a moment she thought of pulling away, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it again. “No, believe that I want to spend my life with you. That I want to…” he paused, tentatively letting his hand brush through her hair. “I want to wake up next to you every morning.” He watched as she struggled to control her tears. His voice lowered as he touched her cheek. “I want to make love you to every night.” She shook her head again, but couldn’t seem to argue with him.
“John… please…” A sound that was almost a sob escaped her lips. “I cannot…”
He pulled her tight against him. “I want you by my side, Hélène.”
“Even as I am now?” She managed to get free from his arms. “You loved me when I was what I was supposed to be. A lady. Now…”
“That has nothing to do with this.”
“Would you want me to go home? Go back to sitting in my house waiting for you to come back to me… if you came back?”
“No!” He grabbed her shoulders again. “No, when I say I want you by my side, I mean it.” She didn’t fight him as he pulled her tight against him. “I want you with me always.”
She swallowed thickly. “You… you say that now…”
“I will not be parted from you again.” He pressed his lips to hers before she could argue. When he pulled back, his voice was softer. “Do not send me away, Hélène. Please.” His fingers traced her temple before tangling in her hair again. Her eyes drifted closed and she leaned into his touch.
“John…” she barely breathed his name, but it was enough. Her anger melted away as his hand found the chain that hung around her neck.
“You still have it.” He pulled the chain up from under her shirt. On it hung a plain gold band.
“Of course I do.” She felt her cheeks flush. “It was all I had left of you.”
“When all this is over, we will do this properly.” He tilted her chin up to kiss her again.
She sighed and took a step back. “And until then?”
“Until then,” He sighed, his hands moving slowly up and down her arms. “I can keep my distance if you like.”
“No, I have had enough of you at a distance.” She leaned into him, letting herself sag a little in his arms. “Stay with me tonight.”
“Nothing would make me happier.” He smiled and claimed her lips again. She moaned softly as he deepened the kiss. His fingers tightened in her hair, holding her close and not giving her any chance to pull back. When he finally let her go, she was breathless. “Do not make me wait any longer, love.”
She pressed her lips to his again as his fingers flew over the laces of the cinch at her waist. She nearly growled when someone knocked at the door. She moved to the door and opened it forcefully. “What?”
“Captain… Sir Nicolas wishes to speak with you.”
“Tell Sir Nicolas he can bloody well wait!”
“And the boy that… got us here… it’s about him, Captain.”
“Where are they?”
“The cabin you gave to Sir Nicolas.”
She let out a heavy sigh. “Tell them I will join them in a minute or two.” She slammed the door in the sailor’s face and turned back to John. “I fear that I must make you wait.” She moved toward him, letting him wrap her in his arms again. “Duty calls.”
He smiled a little. “No doubt their need is greater than mine.”
“I should make them wait.” She sighed.
“No,” He tightened his hold on her for a moment. “You shouldn’t.” He brought his lips to hers again. “Go. We have the rest of our lives, Lee.”
She locked her eyes on his. “I will not be long.” She kissed him once more and moved out the door. He squeezed her hand as he headed up onto the main deck. No doubt that was where at the very least Ben would be. She reached the door to the cabin and found Sir Nicolas standing there, arms crossed looking concerned.
“What was so bloody important that it could not wait?”
“She is dying. She over extended herself in the attack on Doom’s fortress and she is dying. I thought you might want to know.” Sir Nicolas tried to level her with a stare. It didn’t work. “But if you’d rather go back to Master Storm…”
“On this ship, Sir, you will mind your own bloody business.” Her eyes narrowed.
“My apologies, Captain.” He actually smiled. “I simply meant that it seemed your reunion was off to a poor start and that the two of you must have much to discuss.”
“I will not tell you again, Sir Nicolas; mind your own business.” She looked at the door. “So what does her illness have to do with me, besides it happening on my ship?”
“She wishes to speak to you.”
“To me?”
“Yes. Javier is in there with her. He apparently has something to discuss with you as well.”
“Wonderful.” She pushed the door open. “Master Javier. What can I do for you?”
He gestured to the tiny figure in the bed on the far wall and Hélène moved closer. Green eyes flickered open. “Captain… I need to ask a favor of you.”
“Of course, if it is something I can manage.” Hélène knelt near the bed.
“I have spent so much time hiding what I am in life… I…” the girl flinched, trying to draw a deep breath. “I do not want to die as a boy…I do not want to be… given to the sea.”
“Yes,” Hélène nodded. “I understand. I will do what I can.”
“Thank you.” The woman, for girl did not seem the right word in that moment, reached out a hand, and Hélène took it, squeezing it gently before getting to her feet again. She watched as the other redhead fell into a light sleep.
“And what did you want of me, Master Javier?” Hélène turned to the man sitting in a chair near a porthole.
“Did my request for your presence interrupt something, Captain?”
“You can read men’s minds, can you not?” He nodded. “Well, then you know why I am short of patience at the moment.”
He stared at her for a moment longer, as if considering whether to make some moral judgment on her. He must have decided against it. “Then I will be brief. I fear that to grant Jean’s wishes, we will need some assistance. A burial at sea does not seem… fitting.”
“No doubt you just heard her say that same thing. I can think of one person who may be of help to you in that. But you will have to discuss that with him, not me.” She crossed her arms. “Was that all?”
“No. I was curious as to your intentions after all this is done.” He folded his hands calmly in his lap.
“I do not have the patience for this right now, sir. Nor do I see how that would be any of your business.”
“Would you considering joining my little group, Captain? We are, after all, the same in many ways.”
“No.” She moved toward the door. “Good evening to you, sir.” She closed the door swiftly and leaned against it, letting out a deep breath.
“Trying, isn’t he?”
She stared at Sir Nicolas for a moment. “That may be understating things a little.” She stood up straight again. “What are your plans for my ship now?”
“There is some kind of rip in reality in America.”
“America?” Her eyes got bigger for a moment before she shrugged. “Fine. I’ve never seen America.”
“This is of utter importance, Hélène.”
“We will get you there with all the speed we can muster, Sir.” She nodded, suddenly feeling too tired to care what kind of strangeness Sir Nicolas had brought on himself and the rest of the souls on the Trident. But her curiosity was getting to her. “And how do you intend to fix this… rip?”
Sir Nicolas smiled. “I leave that to better minds than mine.”
The captain smiled back. “In other words, you have no idea.”
“Precisely.”
“Well, you and those better minds will have time to contemplate it on our journey. Now, if there is nothing else?” The man before her shook his head. “Alright, then, good evening, Sir Nicolas.” He bowed to her and went back into the room that held the witchbreed, and she turned to go back down the hallway to her cabin. She found the hallway blocked however by her first mate. “Logan.”
“Captain.” He didn’t move to let her by.
“Is there something you require, Logan?”
“A word with ye, Captain. If I may?”
Her brow furrowed. “Yes… of course.” She motioned him toward her cabin. “What is it?”
“Some o’ the crew is worried, Lee.”
“Worried about what?”
“They want ta know what yer meanin’ ta do now.”
“We sail for America now. Sir Nicolas…”
“Not what I mean, girl and ya know it.”
She stiffened. He hadn’t called her ‘girl’ like that since this whole sailing around the world business had started. And even then it was only when she was being ruled by her emotions, or being thicker than was safe for her. “If you have something you would like to ask, do so plainly, Logan.”
“Are ya plannin’ a weddin’ Captain?”
“Yes.”
The bluntness of her answer must have surprised him a little, but he recovered quickly. “So yer goin’ back to London?”
“Not in the near future, but yes, for a time after all this is over. I would like to spend some time at home.”
“Some time?”
“I am not giving up the ship if that is what you are trying to get at.”
“Can’t be a mother and a captain, girl.”
“I am not… that is none of your concern, Logan. And all this is… there is no need to worry over that right now.” She sat down at her table, pulling softly on the cuff of her shirt.
Logan heaved a sigh and sat down across from her. “That Grimm feller… the rocky one. He seems a good sort.”
“He is.”
“A good captain.”
“He is.” Hélène’s eyes narrowed a little. “Are you throwing your lot in with him now, my friend? Should I worry about a mutiny?”
“No, nothin’ o’ that sort. Ye know that, Captain.” He waved his hand dismissively. “But if yer needin’ time away from the sea, he’s a good man to trust this lot to.”
“In all truth Logan, the thought did occur to me.” She smiled. “But I have no intention of giving up the Trident.”
“Yer not the girl that started this, Lee.”
“It has been four years, Logan. People change, grow…”
“But ye wanted a normal life when ye found what ye were lookin’ for. Now, ye got it an’ ye want to keep lookin’ fer more?”
“Seems that way.”
Logan chuckled. “He is a lucky man, Hélène.” She smiled.
“You have not called me Hélène is a very long time.”
“Well, it didn’ seem right most o’ the time.” He stood. “I’ll send him down ta ye when I get the chance.”
“Thank you.” She smiled and stood, moving with him to the door. “You are a good friend, Logan.”
“And ye’re a good captain, and a good woman. If the boy don’ see that as fact, he is a bigger fool than I thought.” The old man let out a gruff laugh as he closed the door behind him.
She went back into the room, pulling absently at her hair, undoing the braid as she paced. Logan had given her enough to think about. What would she do when the time came to have children? No doubt in her mind that she and John would be given another chance at having a family, but… a ship was no place to raise children. She frowned, throwing her now loose hair over her shoulder. She would be forced to give this all up eventually.
And would she be happy with that? At one point in her life, she would have answered an emphatic yes. She would have been more than happy to have John’s children, to be his wife in every tradition sense of the word. And she still wanted to be with him, to be at his side. She couldn’t deny any part of that. But staying behind the mind the family… something about that didn’t ring as happily as it would have four years earlier.
She ran her fingers through her hair. She couldn’t very well avoid children forever, unless she avoided his affections, and she had no designs on such a plan. She was more than willing to admit that she wanted his hands on her again, his lips… she wanted to feel him pressed against her, inside her. Her cheeks caught fire at the very thought, but she couldn’t deny she wanted him. And her travels had taught her a thing or two about that aspect of life, though she hadn’t actively partaken in any of it. Her times spent in taverns, and the conversations with the only other women to be found there had informed her of one or two tricks… and had told her that there was no shame in the wanting of a man. No shame in wanting the pleasures she knew he could give her. Her eyes fell on the bed in the corner for a moment. She sighed. He hadn’t been the only one locked away for years.
She paced the room lost in her mind until her legs began to protest and she set herself down on the edge of the bed. She jumped at the soft knock on her door. “Come in.”
The door clicked shut again and the man that had entered her room slid the lock into place. “You look troubled.”
She shook her head as she stood. “Nothing you can’t drive from my mind.” She took a few steps closer to him.
He pulled her into his arms. “I think I am going to have to make you wait this time.” She pulled back, confusion on her face. “The witchbreed girl…”
“I know. She is dying.”
“No, she is dead.”
“That was quick.” Hélène sighed. “Most likely for the best, for her sake at least.” He nodded. “Did they ask you to…?” he nodded again. “For that, I can wait.”
“I knew you would.” He held her tight against him again. “Duty calls again.” He kissed her cheek softly.
“Remember your other duty.” She smiled a little. “To me.”
“One that I promise I shall perform to your full satisfaction as soon as possible.” He brought his lips to hers in a kiss filled with that same promise. “I have spent years trying to remember the feel of your skin.”
“It will be more than a memory soon.” She kissed him again before pulling back reluctantly. “Go, do your part to grant her last wishes. We all owe her that much at the very least.” Her fingers tangled in his hair for a moment. “Were it not for her, I never would have found you again.”
“That is reason enough for me.” He smiled before heaving a sigh and moving toward the door. He turned back to her, offering her his hand.
She shook her head. “No, I have no part in this. This should be for those close to her, and those she helped rescue.”
“Are you not among those she rescued, in some sense?” Hélène’s brow wrinkled a little. “You said it yourself, she lead you back to me.”
The redhead smiled sadly and took his hand, but she let go as they reached the main deck. This was the time for her to be the captain of this ship, not his lover.
Javier said his piece, the normal funeral rites as they had been spoken countless times before as John carried the girl’s body higher and higher. Hélène looked at the girl’s friends, for now it was easy to see that they had been just that, one perhaps more than that eventually, had she lived. She caught a glimpse of tears running down Scotius’ cheeks a moment before the blast from his eyes escaped and destroyed the earthly remains of Miss Jean Grey.
John landed near his sister a moment later. No doubt their little group had much to discuss. She suspected Reed was one of those ‘better minds’ Sir Nicolas had spoken of, and he would no doubt need to inform his compatriots of the situation. She moved toward some of her crew who had gathered to pay their respects. “We sail for the Americas.” She kept her voice low.
“Do we stop first?”
“I do not know yet.” She turned, searching the small crowd for Sir Nicolas and finding him quickly. “But I will find out.” She moved quickly through the crowd. “Sir Nicolas, a word please.”
“Of course.”
“What are your intentions on this trip? Will there be any stops or are all aboard going along?”
“If they wish to come, they can.” He shrugged. “Are you short supplies for such a trip?”
“No.”
“Is there another problem then?”
“No. Just wanted to be sure of your plans for my ship.” She smiled and moved back toward her crew. “We sail on.” She nodded and they all went back to their posts. When she was sure that everything that needed to be taken care of was done, she went back to her cabin and began pacing again. She was still walking the floor when John came back to her. “I was beginning to think Ben threw you overboard.” She smiled.
“And risk your anger? He is smarter than that.” He wrapped his arms around her again, pulling her as close as he could get her before kissing her lips. “No more interruptions, love.” His fingers glided over the laces of the cinch at her waist again. She gasped as one finger brushed across her breast.
“John…” She leaned into him, claiming his lips again and running her fingers through his hair. The cinch fell over her hips a moment later, landing with a heavy thud on the floor. In a flurry of motion, her shirt, boots and pants joined the heavily boned piece of leather in a small pile. His hands moved slowly over her skin, tracing patterns over her back. “John, please.” She moaned softly as his fingers found their way to her nipples. “You have waited long enough… so have I.” Her eyes flickered open again as the backs of her legs hit the frame of the bed. She lowered herself onto the bed, resting her head on her pillow. “Take me.”
He kicked off his boots and the rest of his clothes in a flash, and joined her on the bed. “Lee… my memory did not do you justice.” His hand slid up her thigh as his lips moved down her neck. Her nails dug into his shoulders as his fingers reached her sex and a deep, wanton moan left her lips. He kissed her again; his fingers toying with her, driving gasps and moans from her. “Hélène, I do not think I have the strength to be gentle with you tonight.”
“Then do not be.” Her eyes, dark with desire, locked on his.
He pulled back for a moment, suddenly struck with a thought that hadn’t actually occurred to him before. She’d spent years sailing the world after all… “Darling, have there been… others?”
“No, never.” She shook her head and sat up a little. “I may not be the innocent girl you left in London, but I have always been yours, only ever yours.” Her cheeks flushed a little. “The only other women I have had to talk to in the last few years have been those in the taverns in port. Most of them have very little trouble expressing what they want from a man… perhaps I picked up a bad habit or two.” He saw a glimmer of the girl he’d known in her eyes and in the blush that painted her cheeks and he smiled.
“What else did you learn I wonder?” He kissed her and laid her back against the pillows. His fingers resumed their teasing touches on her sex. “What do you want from this man, Hélène?” His voice was low against her ear and she trembled at it.
She swallowed thickly, unsure suddenly if she could actually tell him; actually say the words. She closed her eyes as his lips travelled down the column of her neck and lower until they wrapped hungrily around one of her nipples. She cried out, arching into his touch. “John…” she gasped again as his fingers pressed harder on her most sensitive spot. “God in Heaven… I want you inside me! I want you to sate yourself in me. I want you to give into every single lurid fantasy of the last four years!” She cried out again as he slid a finger into her. “John… please, take me!” She writhed against his hand as another finger joined the first. Her head fell back against her pillow and she gasped. “Please.”
She whimpered softly as his fingers withdrew. Her eyes flickered open a moment before he claimed her lips and settled between her thighs. “I love you.”
She smiled. It was a very indulgent smile. “I know.”
He stopped hesitating and plunged into her. She cried out, her back arching off the bed. Rational thought told him to stop, give her time, but the feel of her, tight, wet and warm around him again drove all rationality from his mind. Her nails dug into his shoulders as he hammered into her. All the dreams, the memories of her were nothing compared to what he felt in that moment. He slowed his pace a little, not wanting the feeling to end so soon. “Hélène…”
She gripped him a little tighter. “John… please….” He feared for a moment that she’d ask him to stop, that he’d hurt her. “Do not stop… please.” She trembled in his arms and moaned his name as he buried himself as deep as he could get inside her. She cried out a moment later, her body arching off the bed and tightening around him. A low groan escaped his throat as he resumed his original pace, thrusting deep and hard as she continued to cry out; as she begged him not to stop.
“Hélène,” He claimed her lips again as her voice gave out. He let out a small groan and desperately clung to his control. She trembled again, clinging to him and he knew she was close. As her body tensed around him, his rhythm faltered. A few more deep thrusts threw them both over the edge, and he collapsed forward, resting his head on her breast as they both tried to remember how to breathe. He rolled over a moment later, pulling her close and wrapping her in his arms.
She sighed, resting her head on his shoulder and smiling. “I have missed this.” She snuggled closer to him.
“As have I.” He smiled, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head. “I had nearly forgotten how good it feels to have you in my arms.”
Hélène was just drifting off to sleep when a sharp knock pulled her back to consciousness. She growled a little, pulling a sheet off the bed and wrapping it around herself as she stalked toward the door. “What now?”
“Captain? Are ye alright in there?” She opened the door, glaring at the man who stood before her, a knowing smirk on his face.
“Do I look alright, Logan?”
“Ye look jus’ fine, Captain.” He chuckled lightly. “One o’ the lads said he heard screamin’ from yer cabin.”
She rolled her eyes. “If he’s too simple to tell the difference…” she stopped short. “Get the boy to a brothel when we get home, Logan. He obviously needs a lesson or two.”
Another chuckle left the lips of her first mate. “Aye, Captain.” He turned away just before she slammed the door shut.
Title: Never Shall We Die
Universe: Marvel 1602
Characters/pairings: Umm... damn near all of them, and an OFC
Warnings: M/F, first time
Disclaimer: Marvel owns the recognizable characters and the world this is set in. I do not make any claim on any of them. I make no money from this little endeavor.
Chapter 1: News, Chapter 2: Remembrance
“I am not going anywhere.” John stepped forward as she backed away from him. “Lee, please believe me.”
She shook her head. “I do believe you, John. I believe that you feel you need to live up to your promises.”
“No,” He rested his hands on her hips. For a moment she thought of pulling away, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it again. “No, believe that I want to spend my life with you. That I want to…” he paused, tentatively letting his hand brush through her hair. “I want to wake up next to you every morning.” He watched as she struggled to control her tears. His voice lowered as he touched her cheek. “I want to make love you to every night.” She shook her head again, but couldn’t seem to argue with him.
“John… please…” A sound that was almost a sob escaped her lips. “I cannot…”
He pulled her tight against him. “I want you by my side, Hélène.”
“Even as I am now?” She managed to get free from his arms. “You loved me when I was what I was supposed to be. A lady. Now…”
“That has nothing to do with this.”
“Would you want me to go home? Go back to sitting in my house waiting for you to come back to me… if you came back?”
“No!” He grabbed her shoulders again. “No, when I say I want you by my side, I mean it.” She didn’t fight him as he pulled her tight against him. “I want you with me always.”
She swallowed thickly. “You… you say that now…”
“I will not be parted from you again.” He pressed his lips to hers before she could argue. When he pulled back, his voice was softer. “Do not send me away, Hélène. Please.” His fingers traced her temple before tangling in her hair again. Her eyes drifted closed and she leaned into his touch.
“John…” she barely breathed his name, but it was enough. Her anger melted away as his hand found the chain that hung around her neck.
“You still have it.” He pulled the chain up from under her shirt. On it hung a plain gold band.
“Of course I do.” She felt her cheeks flush. “It was all I had left of you.”
“When all this is over, we will do this properly.” He tilted her chin up to kiss her again.
She sighed and took a step back. “And until then?”
“Until then,” He sighed, his hands moving slowly up and down her arms. “I can keep my distance if you like.”
“No, I have had enough of you at a distance.” She leaned into him, letting herself sag a little in his arms. “Stay with me tonight.”
“Nothing would make me happier.” He smiled and claimed her lips again. She moaned softly as he deepened the kiss. His fingers tightened in her hair, holding her close and not giving her any chance to pull back. When he finally let her go, she was breathless. “Do not make me wait any longer, love.”
She pressed her lips to his again as his fingers flew over the laces of the cinch at her waist. She nearly growled when someone knocked at the door. She moved to the door and opened it forcefully. “What?”
“Captain… Sir Nicolas wishes to speak with you.”
“Tell Sir Nicolas he can bloody well wait!”
“And the boy that… got us here… it’s about him, Captain.”
“Where are they?”
“The cabin you gave to Sir Nicolas.”
She let out a heavy sigh. “Tell them I will join them in a minute or two.” She slammed the door in the sailor’s face and turned back to John. “I fear that I must make you wait.” She moved toward him, letting him wrap her in his arms again. “Duty calls.”
He smiled a little. “No doubt their need is greater than mine.”
“I should make them wait.” She sighed.
“No,” He tightened his hold on her for a moment. “You shouldn’t.” He brought his lips to hers again. “Go. We have the rest of our lives, Lee.”
She locked her eyes on his. “I will not be long.” She kissed him once more and moved out the door. He squeezed her hand as he headed up onto the main deck. No doubt that was where at the very least Ben would be. She reached the door to the cabin and found Sir Nicolas standing there, arms crossed looking concerned.
“What was so bloody important that it could not wait?”
“She is dying. She over extended herself in the attack on Doom’s fortress and she is dying. I thought you might want to know.” Sir Nicolas tried to level her with a stare. It didn’t work. “But if you’d rather go back to Master Storm…”
“On this ship, Sir, you will mind your own bloody business.” Her eyes narrowed.
“My apologies, Captain.” He actually smiled. “I simply meant that it seemed your reunion was off to a poor start and that the two of you must have much to discuss.”
“I will not tell you again, Sir Nicolas; mind your own business.” She looked at the door. “So what does her illness have to do with me, besides it happening on my ship?”
“She wishes to speak to you.”
“To me?”
“Yes. Javier is in there with her. He apparently has something to discuss with you as well.”
“Wonderful.” She pushed the door open. “Master Javier. What can I do for you?”
He gestured to the tiny figure in the bed on the far wall and Hélène moved closer. Green eyes flickered open. “Captain… I need to ask a favor of you.”
“Of course, if it is something I can manage.” Hélène knelt near the bed.
“I have spent so much time hiding what I am in life… I…” the girl flinched, trying to draw a deep breath. “I do not want to die as a boy…I do not want to be… given to the sea.”
“Yes,” Hélène nodded. “I understand. I will do what I can.”
“Thank you.” The woman, for girl did not seem the right word in that moment, reached out a hand, and Hélène took it, squeezing it gently before getting to her feet again. She watched as the other redhead fell into a light sleep.
“And what did you want of me, Master Javier?” Hélène turned to the man sitting in a chair near a porthole.
“Did my request for your presence interrupt something, Captain?”
“You can read men’s minds, can you not?” He nodded. “Well, then you know why I am short of patience at the moment.”
He stared at her for a moment longer, as if considering whether to make some moral judgment on her. He must have decided against it. “Then I will be brief. I fear that to grant Jean’s wishes, we will need some assistance. A burial at sea does not seem… fitting.”
“No doubt you just heard her say that same thing. I can think of one person who may be of help to you in that. But you will have to discuss that with him, not me.” She crossed her arms. “Was that all?”
“No. I was curious as to your intentions after all this is done.” He folded his hands calmly in his lap.
“I do not have the patience for this right now, sir. Nor do I see how that would be any of your business.”
“Would you considering joining my little group, Captain? We are, after all, the same in many ways.”
“No.” She moved toward the door. “Good evening to you, sir.” She closed the door swiftly and leaned against it, letting out a deep breath.
“Trying, isn’t he?”
She stared at Sir Nicolas for a moment. “That may be understating things a little.” She stood up straight again. “What are your plans for my ship now?”
“There is some kind of rip in reality in America.”
“America?” Her eyes got bigger for a moment before she shrugged. “Fine. I’ve never seen America.”
“This is of utter importance, Hélène.”
“We will get you there with all the speed we can muster, Sir.” She nodded, suddenly feeling too tired to care what kind of strangeness Sir Nicolas had brought on himself and the rest of the souls on the Trident. But her curiosity was getting to her. “And how do you intend to fix this… rip?”
Sir Nicolas smiled. “I leave that to better minds than mine.”
The captain smiled back. “In other words, you have no idea.”
“Precisely.”
“Well, you and those better minds will have time to contemplate it on our journey. Now, if there is nothing else?” The man before her shook his head. “Alright, then, good evening, Sir Nicolas.” He bowed to her and went back into the room that held the witchbreed, and she turned to go back down the hallway to her cabin. She found the hallway blocked however by her first mate. “Logan.”
“Captain.” He didn’t move to let her by.
“Is there something you require, Logan?”
“A word with ye, Captain. If I may?”
Her brow furrowed. “Yes… of course.” She motioned him toward her cabin. “What is it?”
“Some o’ the crew is worried, Lee.”
“Worried about what?”
“They want ta know what yer meanin’ ta do now.”
“We sail for America now. Sir Nicolas…”
“Not what I mean, girl and ya know it.”
She stiffened. He hadn’t called her ‘girl’ like that since this whole sailing around the world business had started. And even then it was only when she was being ruled by her emotions, or being thicker than was safe for her. “If you have something you would like to ask, do so plainly, Logan.”
“Are ya plannin’ a weddin’ Captain?”
“Yes.”
The bluntness of her answer must have surprised him a little, but he recovered quickly. “So yer goin’ back to London?”
“Not in the near future, but yes, for a time after all this is over. I would like to spend some time at home.”
“Some time?”
“I am not giving up the ship if that is what you are trying to get at.”
“Can’t be a mother and a captain, girl.”
“I am not… that is none of your concern, Logan. And all this is… there is no need to worry over that right now.” She sat down at her table, pulling softly on the cuff of her shirt.
Logan heaved a sigh and sat down across from her. “That Grimm feller… the rocky one. He seems a good sort.”
“He is.”
“A good captain.”
“He is.” Hélène’s eyes narrowed a little. “Are you throwing your lot in with him now, my friend? Should I worry about a mutiny?”
“No, nothin’ o’ that sort. Ye know that, Captain.” He waved his hand dismissively. “But if yer needin’ time away from the sea, he’s a good man to trust this lot to.”
“In all truth Logan, the thought did occur to me.” She smiled. “But I have no intention of giving up the Trident.”
“Yer not the girl that started this, Lee.”
“It has been four years, Logan. People change, grow…”
“But ye wanted a normal life when ye found what ye were lookin’ for. Now, ye got it an’ ye want to keep lookin’ fer more?”
“Seems that way.”
Logan chuckled. “He is a lucky man, Hélène.” She smiled.
“You have not called me Hélène is a very long time.”
“Well, it didn’ seem right most o’ the time.” He stood. “I’ll send him down ta ye when I get the chance.”
“Thank you.” She smiled and stood, moving with him to the door. “You are a good friend, Logan.”
“And ye’re a good captain, and a good woman. If the boy don’ see that as fact, he is a bigger fool than I thought.” The old man let out a gruff laugh as he closed the door behind him.
She went back into the room, pulling absently at her hair, undoing the braid as she paced. Logan had given her enough to think about. What would she do when the time came to have children? No doubt in her mind that she and John would be given another chance at having a family, but… a ship was no place to raise children. She frowned, throwing her now loose hair over her shoulder. She would be forced to give this all up eventually.
And would she be happy with that? At one point in her life, she would have answered an emphatic yes. She would have been more than happy to have John’s children, to be his wife in every tradition sense of the word. And she still wanted to be with him, to be at his side. She couldn’t deny any part of that. But staying behind the mind the family… something about that didn’t ring as happily as it would have four years earlier.
She ran her fingers through her hair. She couldn’t very well avoid children forever, unless she avoided his affections, and she had no designs on such a plan. She was more than willing to admit that she wanted his hands on her again, his lips… she wanted to feel him pressed against her, inside her. Her cheeks caught fire at the very thought, but she couldn’t deny she wanted him. And her travels had taught her a thing or two about that aspect of life, though she hadn’t actively partaken in any of it. Her times spent in taverns, and the conversations with the only other women to be found there had informed her of one or two tricks… and had told her that there was no shame in the wanting of a man. No shame in wanting the pleasures she knew he could give her. Her eyes fell on the bed in the corner for a moment. She sighed. He hadn’t been the only one locked away for years.
She paced the room lost in her mind until her legs began to protest and she set herself down on the edge of the bed. She jumped at the soft knock on her door. “Come in.”
The door clicked shut again and the man that had entered her room slid the lock into place. “You look troubled.”
She shook her head as she stood. “Nothing you can’t drive from my mind.” She took a few steps closer to him.
He pulled her into his arms. “I think I am going to have to make you wait this time.” She pulled back, confusion on her face. “The witchbreed girl…”
“I know. She is dying.”
“No, she is dead.”
“That was quick.” Hélène sighed. “Most likely for the best, for her sake at least.” He nodded. “Did they ask you to…?” he nodded again. “For that, I can wait.”
“I knew you would.” He held her tight against him again. “Duty calls again.” He kissed her cheek softly.
“Remember your other duty.” She smiled a little. “To me.”
“One that I promise I shall perform to your full satisfaction as soon as possible.” He brought his lips to hers in a kiss filled with that same promise. “I have spent years trying to remember the feel of your skin.”
“It will be more than a memory soon.” She kissed him again before pulling back reluctantly. “Go, do your part to grant her last wishes. We all owe her that much at the very least.” Her fingers tangled in his hair for a moment. “Were it not for her, I never would have found you again.”
“That is reason enough for me.” He smiled before heaving a sigh and moving toward the door. He turned back to her, offering her his hand.
She shook her head. “No, I have no part in this. This should be for those close to her, and those she helped rescue.”
“Are you not among those she rescued, in some sense?” Hélène’s brow wrinkled a little. “You said it yourself, she lead you back to me.”
The redhead smiled sadly and took his hand, but she let go as they reached the main deck. This was the time for her to be the captain of this ship, not his lover.
Javier said his piece, the normal funeral rites as they had been spoken countless times before as John carried the girl’s body higher and higher. Hélène looked at the girl’s friends, for now it was easy to see that they had been just that, one perhaps more than that eventually, had she lived. She caught a glimpse of tears running down Scotius’ cheeks a moment before the blast from his eyes escaped and destroyed the earthly remains of Miss Jean Grey.
John landed near his sister a moment later. No doubt their little group had much to discuss. She suspected Reed was one of those ‘better minds’ Sir Nicolas had spoken of, and he would no doubt need to inform his compatriots of the situation. She moved toward some of her crew who had gathered to pay their respects. “We sail for the Americas.” She kept her voice low.
“Do we stop first?”
“I do not know yet.” She turned, searching the small crowd for Sir Nicolas and finding him quickly. “But I will find out.” She moved quickly through the crowd. “Sir Nicolas, a word please.”
“Of course.”
“What are your intentions on this trip? Will there be any stops or are all aboard going along?”
“If they wish to come, they can.” He shrugged. “Are you short supplies for such a trip?”
“No.”
“Is there another problem then?”
“No. Just wanted to be sure of your plans for my ship.” She smiled and moved back toward her crew. “We sail on.” She nodded and they all went back to their posts. When she was sure that everything that needed to be taken care of was done, she went back to her cabin and began pacing again. She was still walking the floor when John came back to her. “I was beginning to think Ben threw you overboard.” She smiled.
“And risk your anger? He is smarter than that.” He wrapped his arms around her again, pulling her as close as he could get her before kissing her lips. “No more interruptions, love.” His fingers glided over the laces of the cinch at her waist again. She gasped as one finger brushed across her breast.
“John…” She leaned into him, claiming his lips again and running her fingers through his hair. The cinch fell over her hips a moment later, landing with a heavy thud on the floor. In a flurry of motion, her shirt, boots and pants joined the heavily boned piece of leather in a small pile. His hands moved slowly over her skin, tracing patterns over her back. “John, please.” She moaned softly as his fingers found their way to her nipples. “You have waited long enough… so have I.” Her eyes flickered open again as the backs of her legs hit the frame of the bed. She lowered herself onto the bed, resting her head on her pillow. “Take me.”
He kicked off his boots and the rest of his clothes in a flash, and joined her on the bed. “Lee… my memory did not do you justice.” His hand slid up her thigh as his lips moved down her neck. Her nails dug into his shoulders as his fingers reached her sex and a deep, wanton moan left her lips. He kissed her again; his fingers toying with her, driving gasps and moans from her. “Hélène, I do not think I have the strength to be gentle with you tonight.”
“Then do not be.” Her eyes, dark with desire, locked on his.
He pulled back for a moment, suddenly struck with a thought that hadn’t actually occurred to him before. She’d spent years sailing the world after all… “Darling, have there been… others?”
“No, never.” She shook her head and sat up a little. “I may not be the innocent girl you left in London, but I have always been yours, only ever yours.” Her cheeks flushed a little. “The only other women I have had to talk to in the last few years have been those in the taverns in port. Most of them have very little trouble expressing what they want from a man… perhaps I picked up a bad habit or two.” He saw a glimmer of the girl he’d known in her eyes and in the blush that painted her cheeks and he smiled.
“What else did you learn I wonder?” He kissed her and laid her back against the pillows. His fingers resumed their teasing touches on her sex. “What do you want from this man, Hélène?” His voice was low against her ear and she trembled at it.
She swallowed thickly, unsure suddenly if she could actually tell him; actually say the words. She closed her eyes as his lips travelled down the column of her neck and lower until they wrapped hungrily around one of her nipples. She cried out, arching into his touch. “John…” she gasped again as his fingers pressed harder on her most sensitive spot. “God in Heaven… I want you inside me! I want you to sate yourself in me. I want you to give into every single lurid fantasy of the last four years!” She cried out again as he slid a finger into her. “John… please, take me!” She writhed against his hand as another finger joined the first. Her head fell back against her pillow and she gasped. “Please.”
She whimpered softly as his fingers withdrew. Her eyes flickered open a moment before he claimed her lips and settled between her thighs. “I love you.”
She smiled. It was a very indulgent smile. “I know.”
He stopped hesitating and plunged into her. She cried out, her back arching off the bed. Rational thought told him to stop, give her time, but the feel of her, tight, wet and warm around him again drove all rationality from his mind. Her nails dug into his shoulders as he hammered into her. All the dreams, the memories of her were nothing compared to what he felt in that moment. He slowed his pace a little, not wanting the feeling to end so soon. “Hélène…”
She gripped him a little tighter. “John… please….” He feared for a moment that she’d ask him to stop, that he’d hurt her. “Do not stop… please.” She trembled in his arms and moaned his name as he buried himself as deep as he could get inside her. She cried out a moment later, her body arching off the bed and tightening around him. A low groan escaped his throat as he resumed his original pace, thrusting deep and hard as she continued to cry out; as she begged him not to stop.
“Hélène,” He claimed her lips again as her voice gave out. He let out a small groan and desperately clung to his control. She trembled again, clinging to him and he knew she was close. As her body tensed around him, his rhythm faltered. A few more deep thrusts threw them both over the edge, and he collapsed forward, resting his head on her breast as they both tried to remember how to breathe. He rolled over a moment later, pulling her close and wrapping her in his arms.
She sighed, resting her head on his shoulder and smiling. “I have missed this.” She snuggled closer to him.
“As have I.” He smiled, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head. “I had nearly forgotten how good it feels to have you in my arms.”
Hélène was just drifting off to sleep when a sharp knock pulled her back to consciousness. She growled a little, pulling a sheet off the bed and wrapping it around herself as she stalked toward the door. “What now?”
“Captain? Are ye alright in there?” She opened the door, glaring at the man who stood before her, a knowing smirk on his face.
“Do I look alright, Logan?”
“Ye look jus’ fine, Captain.” He chuckled lightly. “One o’ the lads said he heard screamin’ from yer cabin.”
She rolled her eyes. “If he’s too simple to tell the difference…” she stopped short. “Get the boy to a brothel when we get home, Logan. He obviously needs a lesson or two.”
Another chuckle left the lips of her first mate. “Aye, Captain.” He turned away just before she slammed the door shut.