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He didn’t really know where he was going. This house was too large and had too many rooms and too many people and he just needed to get away but everywhere he went there was someone else demanding the attention of Captain Vane. He was wandering aimlessly trying to find a room where people weren’t when he heard the piano drifting softly from somewhere to his right. He found himself wandering in that general direction, letting the music and the voice guide him to the source- guiding him home.
Her back was to him as she hunched over the piano playing some cover of a pop song he wouldn’t know or understand if it smacked him in the face. Almost as if sensing his presence, she slowed the melody and shifted into another song that he somewhat recognized. He didn’t know how he knew, but he knew it was for him. Her back was still to him as her voice carried over the notes “When the sun goes down, and the band won’t play, I’ll always remember us this way.”
Her mind drifted to the the first time they met, when Eleanor Guthrie tried to pick a fight with her by saying Charles Vane would kill her, and she looked dead into both of their eyes with the fire in her own and told them, “Charles Vane be damned. If he has half a brain, he’ll understand that this is between me and you and he’ll stay the fuck out of the way.” If she’d been paying more attention she would have seen the impressed look that crossed his face, but she was too satisfied with watching the famous Ms. Guthrie porcelain facade crack under her words.
His mind floated back to right after she joined the Ranger, and she took to partnering with Anne when they went over the side. They were nicknamed “the hellcats” because, well, they were. Many a man fell beneath their swirling hair, flashing swords, and satisfied smirks. He remembered the time a glint of steel flashed before his eyes before he was shoved out of the way and a smaller body took his place. He had been surprised that she had enough strength to move him, and even more impressed by the ferocity with which she protected her captain. He knew he shouldn’t just stand and watch her- there was a battle going on after all- but he couldn’t help it. The devilish smile she flashed back at him when she was done… dear God, if there was one… If he’d been able to read her mind, he would have felt the fear that gripped her as she saw the man sneaking up behind her captain and the determination she had to not let anything happen to him, but he was too focused on thinking of ways to get her to smile again.
Her memory swam with a haze of alcohol, whispers, kisses, and skin, and how she knew she shouldn’t be with her captain. But damn Charles Vane and how he made her love him. She smiled to herself as her fingers raked down the keys after the bridge and felt the warmth spread through her chest knowing he was watching, knowing that he had to know, surely he had to know this was all for him.
His memory sank into a haze of alcohol, whispers, kisses, and skin, and how he knew he shouldn’t be with her because it could damage her standing with the men. But damn her and how she made him love her. He smiled as he began walking to her, the uncontrollable urge to just hold her completely overtaking him because for once he felt safe and at home and it was because of her. He bent down and loosely wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pressing a kiss to her temple as she leaned back into him and they got lost in each others’ eyes.
“When you look at me, and the whole world fades, I’ll always remember us this way.”