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A Place Of Ones Own (closed)

"I had to help Ma..." He whispered. "This ship and crew is all she has... But I'm sorry..." He laid his head against her own and held her a little tighter. "We'll go home soon, I promise."
 
"You won't be happy in Inverness anymore." Annie whispered, the forlorn tone in her voice telling him that she feared that their marriage might end with what he said next. "You've found everything you ever wanted here."
 
"What're you talking about?" David asked worriedly. "I love you, you're what I want. I just came here to meet my mother." But even though he didn't know it, she was quite right.
 
"And you're what I want, David. I've love you for so long." Annie promised him, pulling back from the hug to gently touch his cheek. "But tell me now that you can go back to the lumber camp. I know you, love."
 
David tried to speak, to tell her he could, but no sound would come. He couldn't lie to her or to himself. Being aboard a ship just felt... right. He'd dreamed of being a sailor all his life. As a child, he used to make-believe he was a dashing pirate. He knew everything a man could know about the inner workings of a ship.

So he was silent as he realized he couldn't do it.
 
Annie had her answer in the silence of her husband. She sighed softly, her dark eyes lowering towards the ground as they both thought about what their future would hold. He knew that she couldn't leave Inverness and she knew that he couldn't live without the sea. It seemed that there was no easy way for them...

"What do we do now?" She asked him softly, tears already pricking her eyes as she thought about the answer that he would give her.
 
"We go home." He was speaking more to himself, firm with his decision. He wouldn't abandon the life Annie was comfortable with for his own sake. He kissed her cheek before he left her side and stepped out into the main quarters to speak to his mother, asking if she'd at least come and visit, telling her that they had to be going soon. But even from a distance, Annie could hear his reluctance. Seawater was in his blood, and he'd been born and raised for the first years of his life on a ship. It felt natural and right to him, it was why his favorite part of lumbering was floating the logs down the river when needed.
 
Annie felt horrible as her husband proclaimed that they would go home and he made his way to talk to his mother. She couldn't make him give up on his dreams, not when he had searched so long to find them. She gathered her thoughts and took in a deep breath, making her way towards the two.

"Ria. May I talk to you...in private?" Annie asked softly, looking at David before she looked back at her mother-in-law. "It'll just be a few moments."
 
"Of course, dear," Ria nodded, and David left them be. Ria went to pour herself a glass of strong whiskey, leaving the bottle and an extra glass just in case Annie wanted a bit to calm her frayed nerves like Ria. It was in the silence that Annie saw Ria's tunic shredded open across her belly and left side, and beneath was white bandages that looked hastily done and had a bit of blood seeping into them. The same was true of her left hand that held the glass. She was unfazed by it all, much like David whenever he was hurt.
 
Annie wasn't really sure how to begin. It was apparent that Ria wanted David there with her. He couldn't be in two places at once. Someone was going to have their heartbroken by the end of the conversation.

"I'm not sure what David talked to you about, but I think that we all know that taking him away from his family now that he's finally found it would be cruel." Annie started, sighing as she took a seat. "I can't ask him to leave behind what he's wanted so much."
 
Ria considered her words with the wisdom apparent in her gaze of a woman who had seen many such hard choices, but this was her son's own. "I would ask him to go home... I would go back in time and never have asked him in that letter to find me if I could... but I can't do either. In the end, he said it's your choice," Ria explained. "He told me that he would stay or leave based on what you wanted. He said that he would follow you wherever you decided to go." Stubborn man.
 
Annie let out a long sigh, turning her gaze towards the wall as she crossed her hands over her chest. David was too stubborn for his own good sometimes.

"I love David. He is my other half. I've felt that way for years." She told Ria, letting her mother-in-law see just how much she cared about her son. "I just can't let him give everything up for me. Perhaps he could stay here with you for a few months to see if it was what he wanted."
 
"If you leave him here, you'll never get the same man back," Ria told her knowingly. "And when he did come home, because he loves you too much to stay away, he'd be miserable... The sea is a part of our family, our history."
 
"And Inverness is too much of mine." Annie said softly, knowing that there was only one option. "As much as it will hurt, I know I have to let him go."
 
"Have you given any thought to coming with him?" Ria offered quietly. "It's dangerous and tough... but it's freedom, and we can go anywhere the sea touches. Just give it a try, learn to work on a ship. Then see what happens."
 
"I can't leave my home in Inverness. My horses are there. My family is there." Annie answered simply, looking at Ria with a heart broken gaze. "I was gone so long as a child that I never wanted to leave again."
 
"Listen... I'll take you two home, and you make your decision there. Don't try to decide now." Ria leaned over to kiss her forehead before heading out on deck. She knew that in the end, the heartbroken one among them would never be the same, whether it was Annie and David or Ria herself.
 
Annie sighed as her mother-in-law left, her thoughts still twisting and turning in her head. Her father had warned her that there would be times in marriage when things wouldn't always be easy. This was certainly one of those times, she thought to herself. She needed his advice then more than ever.
 
The month-long trip up along the coastline, through the English Channel, and up around to Inverness' bay was fraught with silence. David was fighting with himself, and Ria stood by as a support for either of the couple. When they arrived in the bay, David was distracting himself by working on the rigging. He didn't even notice the ship had stopped.

"David!" Ria called up. He looked down and saw the port, and his expression saddened. He knew he had to return home. Annie meant more to him than the sea. But on the dock, as he'd heard that their ship was coming in, was Brogan himself. Something was off about him, and he had Kate by his side.
 
The sight of her father and her younger sister warmed her heart. Annie hasn't realized how homesick she was until she caught sight of the two of them. She could barely wait until the gangplank was down before she was running into his arms.

"Oh, Da! I missed you so much." Annie said, hugging him as tightly as she possibly could.
 
Without his sight, even though he'd heard her, Brogan was still caught a little bit off-guard at her tight embrace. "Hiya, lovely," he whispered as he hugged her in return. He knew he had a lot of explaining to do... A lot of things she'd missed and would be devastated to hear. "I wasn' expectin' you two home this way til I got th' letter just a week ago."
 
"I know. I meant to send it sooner but things happened so fast." Annie explained, pulling away from his embrace to look up into his eyes. "Da....what's wrong?"
 
It was as she met his eyes that she noticed they weren't focused. Their color had begun to fade the slightest bit. "A lot 'appened while y'were gone... I'm almost glad y'weren't 'ere, y'were safe with David... Let's get 'ome first, alrigh', love?"
 
Annie was speechless at the sight and she looked towards her sister with a questioning expression. The fact that Kate couldn't meet her gaze told her that something serious had happened while they were gone.

"Of course, Da." Annie said softly, taking his hand and squeezing it gently. "David? We need to go to the keep for a while."
 
"Yeah..." David nodded with clear worry. He let Ria know they had a personal matter to attend to, and they headed for the keep to find Ciaran with a werewolf at his side, a visibly-pregnant Julia, a rather quiet Sam and Rho, but Rho's sleeve was tucked into the front of his shirt, empty. Everyone looked rather worse for wear, just like the town, and there had been werecreatures everywhere.
 
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