The Map

A/N: Same disclaimer. Thanks again to Hils for making this resemble real writing. Here’s the next chapter… hope you enjoy.

Chapter 23

Am I mad?

Nell didn’t think the air had ever smelt as sweet as she stepped out of the gloomy cave into the blinding sunshine. It took awhile for her eyes to grow accustomed to the light but when she could finally look around her she could see that they had come out much higher than the waterfall. The only signs of it were the distant sounds of water crashing on the rocks far below. The sun was high in the sky and she was surprised that they had been in the tunnels for so long. She saw Jack looking upwards at the sky, obviously anxious to get things moving before nightfall. He turned and swaggered across to her, indicating her beads with his right hand.

”We’ll make camp; have a bite to eat here. Try and work it out as quickly as you can,” he said abruptly and turned from her to cross to the others organising the make-do camp area.

Nell blinked at his abrupt manner and looked around her. Norrington was watching quietly, his hands behind his back. She saw him watching her and he came over to her, having heard what Jack had said.

“Do you require any assistance, Nell?” he asked her quietly.

Nell shrugged, her eyes going back to where Jack was talking quietly to Hock. He felt her eyes on him and looked back at her. He tipped his hat at her sardonically and Nell felt herself blush to the roots of her hair, but she wasn’t sure why.

“I don’t think so, but thank you anyway,” Nell said quietly and knelt on the floor. She slid the beads from her hands and laid them out on the floor. She undid the clasp on her necklace and let the beads slip onto the dusty ground again. She stared at them and, whispering prayers, she moved her fingers over the beads, her eyes searching the small characters carved onto the beads.

Ten minutes later she was getting frustrated. She couldn’t work the order out at all and it was bothering her immensely. She sat back on her heels and ran both hands through her hair, letting out a growl. She tugged slightly on the plait in her hair wishing she could remember the small markings.

“Nell…” She looked up at Jack leaning forwards slightly, peering intently into her eyes. “Don’t worry. It was done before; we’ll do it again.” He held out a bread roll to her and she took it with a mumbled thanks and began eating it quickly, not realising how hungry she was. She didn’t give the roll a second glance as she looked down at her beads

“Close your eyes,” Hock said suddenly, coming over to crouch in front of her.

“Sorry?” she frowned at him but he merely grinned at her.

”Close your eyes. You don’t look at your beads when you’re praying normally, don’t look at them now. Close your eyes, or look at my incredibly handsome face… no wait, that’ll distract you.” He smirked at her, making her grin widely at him.

She looked up at Jack but he wasn’t looking down at them; he was staring over their heads at where the ground rose sharply above the system of underground caves. He was squinting as he stared at the trees and bushes lining the ground that grew beside the river as it flowed lazily downwards to the waterfall further down.

“Jack?” Nell looked behind her at where he was squinting.

“Gold,” he whispered. “I can see gold.” He strode around them and both Nell and Hock got up to follow him. Several of the crew members also followed as the word ‘gold’ had spread amongst them.

“Look!” Norrington pointed towards where a gold object lay embedded in the middle of the river. It was tall and thin and immediately recognisable as a cross.

Nell crossed herself as she looked at the religious symbol standing in the water; wrapped around the arms of the cross were numerous rosaries, cross necklaces and even small statues of the Virgin Mary were propped on its arms.

“Bugger me!” Hock snorted.

“No thank you; I’d rather not,” Jack replied lazily, a wicked grin on his face as he looked at the cross.

“How do we get that lot out?” asked Dwent, rubbing his hands together.

“Wade out to it and…” Jack cocked his head to one side evaluating how deep the water was.

“You don’t,” Nell replied firmly. “You leave it exactly where it is.”

“Now Nell, love, don’t go getting all religious on me now.” Jack sighed heavily, wrists circling.

“I’m not,” she said quietly. “You take that cross from the water and you kill us all.”

“Now how do you work that out?” he asked, exasperation clear in his voice and his manner as he turned on his heel sharply, swaying as he stared at her; his head at an odd angle.

“That’s what’s making the water pure. Making it untouchable to whatever it is roaming this place,” Nell said simply, her eyes on the cross still, despite Jack staring at her in an odd fashion.

“You think that’s why nothing can touch us when we’re in the water?” Jack asked doubtfully. “I thought you’d lost all faith?” His tone was slightly mocking.

Nell still didn’t look at him as she moved around him to continue looking at the cross. “I don’t doubt the power of the cross. Especially after that… thing in the cave,” she whispered, her eyes taking in the form of one Virgin Mary holding a crying infant Jesus. It was beautifully carved and painted and she had no doubt it was worth a small fortune. “They must have tried… they must have known…” she frowned absently at Jack before she gave the cross one last glance; crossing herself quickly she walked around him and went back down the slope to where her beads still lay on the ground.

Jack frowned after her. He looked back at the cross and then at Hock who was also watching Nell a frown on his face.

“What say you, Mister Hock?” Jack asked him quietly, his fingers tugging at the braids hanging from his chin.

Hock shrugged and looked back at the cross. “I don’t know, but I think she has a valid point,” he said quietly. “We saw the effect the sign of the cross had on that thing and we know the water is safe… it might be the cross that has that effect; it might not.”

Jack shrugged and grumbled his way back down to where Nell had knelt in front of her beads again.

“All right, missy, we’ll do as you say; the cross stays put… do you have any idea how much that little lot is worth?” he griped at her in a slight whiny voice.

“A very wise pirate once told me that some things were not meant to be purloined. I think we just found one of those things.” She didn’t look up from her beads but her voice held a touch of humour.

“Now you’re just trying to wheedle your way round me,” he said, but some of his own good humour was back in his voice.

“Yes, I do believe I am. Is it working?” She looked up at him and grinned.

He grinned back down at her, flashing his gold teeth. “Just close your eyes and concentrate on working your pretty fingers over those beads or I’ll blindfold you,” he slurred and, turning, swaggered away across to the chests.

Nell closed her eyes and began working her fingers over the beads muttering her prayers over and over as she worked.

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It seemed like hours to Nell but finally she was satisfied that she had the correct order re-strung on the necklace. She played the beads through her fingers; eyes closed mumbling the words until she worked her way through the beads and back to the start.

“This is it,” she said opening her eyes and gasping when she came face to face with Jack. At one point, after she’d threaded the last bead and shut her eyes again, he’d crossed to her and sat down Indian style, his flask of rum in one hand, and his pistol in the other.

“You’re sure?” he asked and shook his head at her. “No, don’t answer that, I know you know you’re sure.” He set the flask back into still slightly damp coat and then held his hand out for the beads.

“Jack?” She passed them over, biting her lip.

“Hmmn?” He was looking through the beads at the order of the symbols. He drew the map from his britches and unrolled it using his pistol to help hold it down. When she didn’t reply, he looked up at her.

“Can we copy the symbols onto the map?” she asked, trying to sound innocent.

“I intend to,” he said and looked back down at the map before suddenly looking back at her, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

”Why?” he murmured, wincing as he could see the reason quite plainly on her face. “You want to leave these on the cross, don’t you Nell?” he sighed and rubbed his fingers over his eyes before looking at her.

Nell shrugged and frowned down at the beads in his hand. She had a very strong feeling that it was something she should do, as if it was expected of her.

“They are yours!” he said carefully and half turned towards where Bryant was stood with the others watching them. “I’m thinking that now’s a good time to find yourself another quill substitute, Mister Bryant. I’ll translate and you can mark them on the map. Miss Nell wants to leave a present for the island and who am I to stop her?”

Decker snorted as Bryant moved off to find a suitable branch to whittle into shape.

“Problem, Mister Decker?” Jack slurred.

“Seems to me we’ve left enough presents for this cursed place in bodies. I say we take the cross and all its little bits for ourselves!” he grunted, sending Nell a venomous look.

“Well then; it’s just as well, for Nell, that I’m Captain and you’re not,” Jack drawled slowly, still not looking at the man.

Decker grumbled and ambled off back up towards where the cross stood in the river.

“Watch him please, Mister Hock. No-one goes into that water,” Jack murmured and Hock nodded, walking after Decker, dagger in hand.

Bryant returned with a sharp stick and a leaf holding numerous berries.

“Right then.” Jack clapped his hands together before taking the beads and thumbing through them. “West, West South; I’m assuming that’s southwest as there is no sign for that, East, South East, same again,” Jack frowned. “Spring, summer, five, nine, bloody hell it’s been along time since I read this kind of stuff… Blossom, no wait…Plum Blossom!”

Nell gave up listening to Jack ramble through the beads. She got up and crossed to perch on the chests, her mind on the cross in the water. It was such an odd thing to find, but then the monks may have tried their hardest to exorcise the place. She wondered how many had died and what they had seen before they decided to make the water safe. She wondered why they had chosen the water and not an area of ground. It must have been some sort of ritual they had used…. She looked around her and decided to go and have another look at the cross. She stood up and left the group; unaware when Jack nodded at Norrington to follow her.

She climbed the small incline to where the river was narrowest and stared out at the cross. Decker was standing casting stones into the water, a dark frown on his face. Hock was perched on a rock, watchful for Decker but also for anything else that might happen.

Nell crossed to sit beside Hock. She drew her knees up to her chest as she stared at the cross. “I think they try to help us,” she said finally.

Hock didn’t reply; he just shot her a puzzled glance before looking around him again.

“I think the monks try to warn us, not kill us,” she elaborated quietly.

Decker must have heard her words because he turned to her a sneer on his face. “Are you insane?” he snorted. “You bloody ‘eard it yerself before the Capt’n knocked you cold… that bloody red-coat, ‘e ‘eard it too!” He spat on the ground. “They want to ‘urt us all right.”

Nell shrugged and moved to go but Hock caught her arm and pulled her back. “Why do you think that, Miss?” he asked her, sending Decker a dark glare.

“They didn’t say they were going to kill us, they were saying what happens here, what happened to them.” She lowered her gaze to her knees as she remembered quite clearly what they had chanted until Jack had knocked her out.

“So how do you reckon they are trying to warn us?” he asked quietly.

“They put that cross there for a reason,” she said softly. “I don’t know why they chose the water and not the ground… unless…” she shrugged. “Maybe the evil here is too great to be contained, but the water? It flows right down to the sea…” She faded out.

Hock shrugged he looked past her to where Norrington was stood quietly, hands behind his back.

“I think ye be mad, Miss,” Decker snorted and looked out again at the cross in the water. “It all be cursed ‘ere, no monks trying to ‘elp us. Didn’t ‘elp Jones nor Spade.” He picked up a larger stone and threw it angrily towards the cross, it missed by several feet splashing into the water. “Nor did it ‘elp those poor buggers in the tunnel.” His voice dropped and he looked back over at Nell “Ye didn’t see them… didn’t see Spade…” He turned to face Nell properly but didn’t move any closer “They ate ‘im alive, Miss. Hundreds of them all swarmin’ around ‘im and ‘im screamin’. I aign’t never ‘eard a man scream like that before. But the screamin’ stopped pretty quick and when it did,” he stepped closer to her his face twisted darkly, “aign’t nothin’ left but bones.”

“That’s enough.” Hock shot out; stepping down from the rock “You’re scarin’ the Miss.”

Decker shot him an angry look and spat on the ground. “So I should be,” he hissed. “You saw ‘im… in the tunnels. ‘Eads ‘acked off. Not cleanly like a sword. No; twisted off, blood splattered everywhere.” He turned away from them mumbling, his hands twisting.

Nell felt sick at his words, she didn’t want to be thinking about any of it; she just wanted to get off this island.

“Mister Decker that’s enough!” Norrington snapped.

“But ‘ave ye ‘eard the latest?” Decker demanded angrily. “Reckons this place be paradise, she do!”

“I don’t!” Nell shot back at him equally angrily.

“Reckons the monks be on our side… well I didn’t see them stopping those bloody things eating Spade and I certainly didn’t see them stop Brown from losing ‘is ‘ead!” he all but bellowed at her.

“All right!” Norrington shook his head at Decker. “You may have a point Mister Decker, but please don’t talk that way to the Miss.”

“Why not?” Decker growled at the Commodore. “Do you think they are protecting us?” he demanded. “Do you?” he demanded again when Norrington kept quiet.

“Well…” Norrington shrugged. “That’s entirely besides the point, Mister Decker. I was asking you to refrain from speaking this way. Now I’m telling you!”

“And who the ‘ell are you telling me what to do?” Decker cursed “You aign’t me Capt’n, you be nothing but a filthy red-coat. Ye’ll betray us the moment ye get yerself a ship won’t ye?” taunted Decker angrily.

“Shut up!” Hock stepped forward angrily “I’m first mate here and that means you’ll do as I say! Now shut up and stop your whining or I’ll shut you up myself.”

Decker bristled angrily, his face twisted into dark hatred as he looked between Norrington and Hock. “Stickin’ up fer ‘im? Yer takin’ it up the arse from ‘im!” he taunted Hock “Yer his girly aign’t ya? Do ye like ‘aving a red-coat in yer?”

Hock gave a growl of anger and punched Decker hard sending him backwards into the river. He staggered to his feet; Hock stood with his fists clenched his face twisted in fury watching as Decker swayed slightly water dripping from him.

“Yer mad the lot of ye!” Decker wiped his hand across his face, smearing blood across his cheek from his split lip. “And ‘er be the worst. It’s all ‘cause of ‘er we’re in this mess.” He pointed to Nell who stared at him wide-eyed at the way things had exploded so quickly.

“Miss Nell has nothing to do with this.” Norrington spoke calmly, completely unruffled by the earlier taunting from Decker.

“Yeah… well she should ‘ave stayed in that bloody convent if ye ask me!” he hissed fists clenched at his sides as he glared at them “We aign’t getting of this cursed place and it’s all her fault; stupid bloody whore!” he spat on the ground.

“Bloody shut up!” Hock lifted his sword, angrier than Nell had ever seen him. “One more word from that foul mouth of yours and you’ll be walking this place minus your soul!” he growled the words at Decker though clenched teeth.

Nell felt her heart sped up; she hadn’t meant this to happen. Decker was glaring at her and the strange gleam in his eyes frightened her. He was insane that much was clear, the island had been too much for him and his mind had broken, probably in the tunnels.

“Please just stop this.” Nell said her voice wavering slightly, unwilling to see any more bloodshed.

Decker turned away from them to glare out at the cross. He suddenly stepped forwards towards it and Hock switched to his pistol, raising it to aim at the back of Decker’s head.

“Step out of the water, Decker!” Hock ordered. “Capt’n don’t want anyone in there.”

Decker stopped and turned around, glaring at Hock, before he stepped closer to Nell.
“You want this to stop?” he glared at her. “It aign’t goin’ to stop, not till we’re all dead and those bloody monks of yours will be laughin’”.

Nell lifted her chin, refusing to show her fear of him or his words.

“Mister Decker, last chance!” Norrington stepped forwards till he was beside Hock, his own pistol ready in his hand.

“Well someone got ta tell the Miss she’s mad. Wants to bloody put ‘er beads on the cross!” he shook his head again and began muttering as he turned away to wander down towards where the others were camped.

Hock turned, not putting his pistol down till Decker had disappeared down through the bushes. “He’s mad if you ask me,” Hock said bitterly and without another word strode back to the rock he’d been perching on. He sat down, refusing to look at either Norrington or Nell.

Nell felt awkward as she stood there beside Norrington. She saw him put his own pistol away in the waistband of his britches out of the corner of her eye.

“I think it might be best Nell, if you don’t say anything about your theory to the rest of the crew,” Norrington said slowly “I don’t think it’ll go down well.”

“Do you think I’m mad?” Nell asked him, still not looking at him.

“No,” he shook his head chuckling softly. “Something is protecting the water and the cross makes sense.”

“No.” Nell shook her head and turned to look up at him. “I meant about leaving the rosary here.”

Norrington looked down at her sideways, a muscle worked in his jaw before he grinned at her. “No.” He stepped closer to her, turning to face her. “I don’t think you’re mad at all, Nell. I’m not certain that I hold with your theory on the monks but that doesn’t mean I think you’re mad for suggesting it.”

Nell nodded at him and then shook her head just as suddenly. “Neither do I really, it was just a thought…” she frowned, her eyes going to the cross in the water. “But it seems so odd that they put the cross there. They must have tried to exorcise the island and failed. But why choose to place the cross in the water, why not on the land, why at all? What purpose does it serve?”

“Nell! Nell,” Norrington caught her chin in his fingers and turned her head to look at him. “Stop thinking so much.” He grinned at her. “It’ll serve no purpose except to get you frustrated.”

Nell frowned at him and then shrugged, his fingers slipped from her chin as he looked over the river to the cross. The sunlight made it glint, turning the water around it a golden colour.
“The whole thing doesn’t make any sense though!” she insisted. “We had trouble getting onto the island didn’t we?” she demanded, making him look back at her. He nodded, his eyebrows drawn together.

“Beaumont stated that he lost a lot of men trying to get onto this island… how many did the monks lose? Why continue to try when it proved harder than say one of the other islands? What was special about this place to send a hundred monks here in the first place?”

“Nell!” Norrington sucked in his breath in frustration. “Stop it! What difference does it make now anyway?”

“I think they were sent here for a reason,” she continued, ignoring his words. “I think they were sent to try and contain whatever haunts this place and they succeeded but only up to a point.”

“Nell, don’t…” Norrington took her shoulders but she pulled away from his grasp, her own thoughts swarming around her brain as she began to pace in front of him.

“They were sent to make sure that whatever was on here couldn’t leave this island and the only way they could do that was to place the cross where it would protect the water and thus the water that flowed into the sea. Remove that cross and the protection leaves the island.” She shook her head as another thought struck her “Unless they brought here whatever it is… maybe it wasn’t here until they brought it. Maybe their purpose was to bring the evil and contain it here.” Nell was thinking feverishly now, pacing back and forth as the words spilled from her. She chewed on her thumbnail as thoughts ran through her mind. “But then again maybe I am completely round the maypole and none of this is happening except in my imagination.”

Norrington caught her shoulders and shook her roughly. “STOP IT!” he ordered firmly and Nell instantly obeyed, blinking up at him as her thoughts cleared.

Norrington saw Hock stand up, but he looked up at him over Nell and shook his head sharply before looking back at Nell.

“Nell, this is pointless.” His voice was firm and authoritative. He spoke to her as if he was speaking to one of his officers. She blinked up at him and he saw the confusion clear slowly from her eyes. He kept firm hold of her shoulders waiting, watching her carefully.

“I…” Nell blinked again, her eyes dropping to where his shirt opened at the base of his throat. She shook her head, frightened by the way her mind has turned in circles until she wasn’t sure what was what anymore.

“Listen to me,” he said firmly. “It makes no difference why they came here; it makes no difference at all. We have one purpose here and that is to leave this island alive.”

“I’m not mad then?” She laughed shakily, bringing her hands up to hold his forearms. His skin was warm and hard under her touch and his solid presence settled her.

“No Nell, you’re not mad,” he said more softly, although his stance was still military. “You’re trying to justify what’s happening but you can’t and you may never be able to. You’re going to have to accept what you see here and move past it. You may never find a reason for this happening. Some things don’t have a reason; they just are.”

“You know don’t you?” she whispered, lifting her gaze to meet his eyes.

“Yes, I know,” he said and his body relaxed, his hands eased their grip on her but he didn’t let go. “I can’t count the number of times I woke in a sweat after fighting the skeletal pirates of the Pearl. I’d never encountered anything like it before. When we climbed aboard the Pearl and saw them… I almost turned and jumped straight back into the sea.” He swallowed and Nell saw that the memory still lived with him “But in order to survive I had to go forward, in order for my men to survive I had to lead the command. I spent months after, with Mister Bryant, trying to find the answer to what we’d seen. But there was no answer. We just had to accept the fact that the curse on the gold had existed, and that we really had seen things that just weren’t probable.” He stopped and lifting one hand cupped her cheek gently.

“You’re going to have to find a way to accept all this Nell. Trying to work it out, trying to explain it isn’t going to help, because even if you do hit on the correct explanation to what’s happening on this island, it isn’t going to alter the fact you’re seeing things that shouldn’t happen outside of a nightmare.” He sighed. “You’re going to have to suspend all your previous beliefs of what’s possible and what’s not. You’re going to have to accept that ghosts do exist, that the dead can walk again. You’ve seen it and you’ll never be the same again, but you are going to have to accept it to retain your sanity.”

“But I don’t know how,” she whispered quietly.

“Stop thinking about it,” he replied. “Stop trying to find out why these things are and just accept it. Instead of thinking why is this happening? Think; alright so this is happening but I’m not going to let it take me over.” He grinned then. “You’re strong Nell, your character is strong. You can do this. Shrug it off, don’t think about it and for goodness sake don’t examine it any more. If you start to find yourself thinking about it, make yourself stop, think about something else.”

Nell took a deep breath and smiled at him, leaning into his touch on her cheek slightly.

“If only…”

He silenced her by pressing his thumb gently over her lips. “There’s no point on dwelling on ‘If only’ either. It won’t do any good; you can’t change things no matter how much you may want to. You can only go forwards from here.”

Nell nodded her head displacing his hold on her cheek. He lowered his hands away from her and clasped them behind his back, his eyes still watchful.

“Thank you,” she said suddenly. “Thank you for kicking me back into line.” She tried to grin at him, but it was shaky at best.

“My pleasure,” he returned and grinned, the corners of his mouth quirking up.

“I’m sorry I lost it there.” She took a deep breath and lifted her chin determinedly. She wouldn’t let herself get so out of hand again. She had to accept what was happening and concentrate on leaving here alive with them. After all, survival was the only thing that mattered.

“Don’t be sorry, Nell,” he grinned again. “I’d be rather surprised and not a little disturbed if you took all that was happening with a grin on your face. In fact…” he stopped talking and looked up to see Jack coming up behind her.

Nell saw his attention was directed behind her and she turned to look. Jack didn’t smile as he came over to them he just held out his hand to Nell, the beads resting on his palm. Nell looked at them and then up at Norrington in question.

“Nell, you have to make that decision.” Norrington shook his head at her. “Don’t start second guessing yourself either. If you feel, in here,” he touched his chest, “that it needs to be done then do it and don’t listen to anyone else. Just don’t dwell on it any more.”

“And don’t mention it to the crew.” She grinned at him and took the beads from Jack with a quiet thanks. Jack still didn’t speak and Nell looked at him in question. He shrugged at her and cocked his head to one side.

“Far be it for me to disagree with the Commodore,” he slurred. “Although having said that, I’m not even certain what I’d be disagreeing with, on account of not knowing what you’ve been talking about.” He grinned slyly at her and Nell felt her stomach twist with an emotion that wasn’t strictly related to loving him. He was so wickedly handsome that sometimes he took Nell’s breath away.

“Having said that, Nell darlin’,” he slung his arm around her shoulders and drew her away from Norrington to the edge of the water, “I’m not knowing how deep the water is and as of yet, I haven’t had the opportunity to teach you to swim, something that will be remedied once we’re back aboard the Pearl.” He took a deep breath, one hand circling as he spoke.

“Teach me? You’ll teach me to swim?” She looked at him in sudden excitement. “In the sea?” A shiver went through her as he looked sideways at her.

“Well I’m thinking that swimming on land might be a trifle hard even for me,” he deadpanned before rolling his eyes and looking back out at the cross.

“That’s not quite what I meant…” Nell flushed before looking down at the beads. He squeezed her shoulder gently and began talking again, his hand dancing gracefully.

“What all this is leading to is the fact that you could find yourself half way out and unable to get to the cross. I can swim; therefore I propose we do one of two things. I take the cross for you or we go together and if it gets too deep I’ll keep going and you can watch!”

“All right.” She nodded in agreement.

“All right what?” he asked, cocking his head to one side, lifting his eyebrow in question. “Which is it to be?”

“Oh. We go together,” she replied. “Are you sure we don’t need them anymore?”

“I have it under good authority,” he nodded and then frowned. “Well, good perhaps isn’t quite the correct word, but I’m certain we don’t need them.” he took a deep breath. “But, and you have to think about this seriously Nell, are you, in fact, ready to give them up or are you not?”

Nell looked at him and then down at her beads. She knew she still prayed despite her misgivings towards her faith. It had been such an integral part of her life for so long. Would she miss them? Would it matter if she no longer had them in her hands?

Jack watched her silently, the indecision clear on her face. He scratched at his chin before tugging on the braids that hung there. “I can get you another rosary,” he said quietly, his arm still across her shoulders. “Next port we stop at I can get you one. But it wouldn’t be the same, you’re used to feeling the carvings; you said they didn’t feel right when you ran them through your fingers; would you use one that was smooth? Would it feel right?”

Nell looked at him and shrugged. “I honestly don’t know,” she replied. “I just know I want to leave them here.”

“All right, decision made then.” He grinned at her. “Just don’t ask me to come and get them back again if you change your mind in a couple of weeks.”

Nell snorted in a very unladylike like fashion. “I’m never coming here again.”

“Agreed.” He laughed and slipped his arm away from her to take her hand. “Come on then lass, time’s wasting.”

A/N: Well… hope you enjoyed that enough to review ;-) begs shamelessly.