Ignite (Black Sails AU)

Chapter 23

"Is that all of them?" What had been a lecture on what was Ice Skating and skating in general, turned into a watching funny meme videos I had saved on my phone, quickly morphing into a prank test on the loudly snoring while sleeping pirates by the other side of the island. Explaining to him what a prank was, was very easy "There are four more." Charles gave me the little firecrackers one by one as I kept fitting them in the round wide wooden bowl, "where did you get these?" The Captain of the Ranger asks me, a glint of curiosity in his eyes, "Every time, a New Year was near, I'd have to visit my grandparents and they would gift me firecrackers. Even just when the winter season had just begun." He nodded, humming, "are you sure this is going to work?"

"Positive," I say independently, "all we have to do, is when we see the steam rise, we have to run like hell and stay in the shadows so they don't come to blame us." He nodded once again. Truth is, we couldn't go back to sleep especially when we came across memes, we were just too hyper like little children and I was dying to pull a prank on at least someone, then Charles came on board, saying he had literally nothing better to do. Once I had positioned all the crackers, placing the ball at a hidden area so they don't suspect easily, just by the crates and boxes. We were crouched just by one of the back of the tents. Charles hands me the cloth I had gotten in the kitchen area, in the other tent. Taking his cigar from in between his lips, he hands me and place the end right at the tip of the cloth, the sparks start lighting it and in no time, there was a small fire that quickly starts to escalate as I hand him back his cigar and he takes it. Waiting for the fire to grow and when half of the cloth was in flames, I dropped it in the bowl and stood up, Charles following suite. Moving back a little, we then started seeing smoke and we made s break for it. "Wait," I stopped midway, seeing the smoke still small. Soon it grew and then I grabbed his arm, "run, run, run, run, run!" I whispered yelled as my heart drummed so fast.

Right behind us, we here here the booming of the firecrackers and soon they were followed by screaming men and whores.

I had tripped on my skirts and fell on my knees while running and I damned myself for not raising them even higher. Suddenly, I felt a strong arm wrap around my waste and I was carried by Charles, resuming to escape the wailing pirates. We finally made it to our side of the island, both a laughing mess of the event that took place. He placed me down on my feet as he smiled, "you failed to mention they sounded like gunshots." He laughed and I believe, it was the first time I ever saw him smile. "Yeah, they are really... really loud." I said in between giggles, holding onto my chest, trying to retaining my laughter but failing miserably instead.

"We should do this more often." I giggled.

"We should." Charles agreed. "We have to get back if we don't want to be suspected. They'll be doing patrol tomorrow."

I furrowed my brows, finally done with my laughter as it quickly swapped to confusion, "why would they be doing patrol tomorrow?"

"They'll report the matter to their Captain," Charles started as we hear the incoherent screaming of the men and women on the other side, "then they'll come to assume there is a spy and that's where the hunting comes in, given they heard what sounded like gunshots."

"Pranking a pirate is a dead wish, isn't it?" I raised a brow at him, thinking about the day to follow.

"Aye, it is." He agreed simply, "but we can't argue that it wasn't worth it." He smirked the last part.

"No, we definitely can't." I giggled. There was a pause between the two of us, not knowing what to say next to him. It was a little of an uncomfortable silence and in those uncomfortable silence I hate so much, I brought more awkwardness to it by saying, "I guess we should probably head back now..." Saying while trying to avoid his piercing gaze, "We probably should." He says before I gave one more awkward smile shot towards him, turning to hike back to the tent I shared with Teach.

"Warina." Hearing my name being called, I turned back to him and in a matter of seconds his chest made a thud against mines and feeling warm rough lips one mine. Feeling large hands cup my hipbones. His fast movements made me shocked and wanting to pull back as he bit my lower lip, making me open my lips as he enters, sliding his tongue. The taste of rum and smoke filled in me. My hands were on his upper arms, trying to push him back but he was so strong, and the fact that I was so little in his arms made my legs weak as I melted in the unexpected kiss. One thing hit me like a bus. Aurora!

"Wait......this is wrong. T-this is wrong." Jerking my head back, removing his warm hands from my waste of which he did not fight about, "I'm sorry, I can't. I c-can't...." I looked down on the sand, ashamed of what I had just done. I felt Charles finger under my chin, pushing it higher to meet his striking blue eyes, "You ask Teach about us. He'll tell you." He says before turning on his heel, walking away like nothing just happened, no regrets, no emotion, no guilt, nothing. While I stood here, feeling guilty of betraying my best friend...my husband...my newborn children.

What he told me made me curious but this time, curiosity was beaten by guilt rather. Heading back to the tent, flipping it opened, I entered, seeing Teach holding the tiny crying infant in his arms, when he looked up at me, his eyes widened. "Where have you been? I asked my men to look for you."

"I couldn't sleep, so I went to get some air," I started, walking over to the end of the bed and sitting next to him. "Heard the gunshots and I returned immediately."

"So you did hear them too? Are you hurt?" He asks, brows raised in worry.

"Yes, but it was on the far side of the island. I'm fine." I smiled the last part, reassuringly. He cups the back of my head, making me lean towards him and he plants a kiss on my forehead, "at least you are alright."

"The little one was  awoken up by a dream, either that, or she's hungry." He told me as I ran my long fingers across Emilia's like patch of soft black hair, "here, I'll feed her." Teach carefully placed the infant in my arms like she was made of glass, which made me giggle and he responded with a chuckle. "You'll be fine. You are strong, I know you are." Teach told me, mentioning about the dreams I keep having. Recently, they had been getting darker, it scared me having to relive all those moments. Biting my lip, I nodded, accepting his reassurance. Even though, his eyes hold sincereness, I caught a glint of skeptic in them.

"Captain!" A voice called from outside,  "I'll go see what that's about." He ran his hands through my hair before standing up, leaving. Looking down at the infant in my arms, who looked so much like her father made me forget the recent event that went by. I went to the wooden crib that swung softly in the breeze, to awake her brother so I could feed them both and all my mind was occupied by was what Charles told me. I didn't know if I wanted to ask Teach about what he told me, nor did I want to break Aurora's heart. I never want to put our friendship in jeopardy......and yet I just did... kissing her man. Why? What was wrong with me? Pushing all these thoughts aside, I fed the twins and made sure to burb them, placed them in their crib, rocking them to sleep while I sang softly. Once confirmed they were asleep, I, too, went into the bed slowly started falling asleep, not noticing I was this exhausted.