Chapter Text
Emma Nolan had every intention of drinking away half her savings in the island tavern that evening.
Her crew spilled into the streets off the ship, already boisterous at the thought of the many pleasures the tavern provided. Only Dee Dee and Barry remained at her side, calmly surveying the townspeople as they passed them on their way to the heart of Jamaica.
The journey had been an arduous one. Six months at sea and Emma had nearly given up on finding the treasure Governor Hawkins had asked them to retrieve for him, when a hunch told her to backtrack and re-scour one of the West Indies islands for it. They had found it within two days of landing on St. Lucia, catching the people who had been hiding the scroll by surprise. Since they were so close to their home port of Jamaica, they decided to head back as soon as possible.
“This is where I leave you,” Emma said gruffly when they reached the street before the tavern, pulling her coat tighter around her as her eyes darted around. “I have to see a man about a horse.”
Dee Dee nodded and continued down the path to the tavern, and Barry pulled her into a swift hug, whispering “tell her we say hello!” so that no one would overhear him.
It wasn’t exactly a secret that Emma’s grandmother lived on the island, but Emma took every precaution once on land to hide her identity. Everyone knew Betsy Nolan had a granddaughter, but as long as Emma was on the island in her official capacity as First Mate, she had to make everyone believe she was a man.
It was an archaic custom, but it was still a law in the books that all pirate leadership positions must be held by men in order to do official business with any head of state. And since Hawkins was the governor of Jamaica and they conducted all official business through him, that meant that not a soul on the island, save Emma’s grandmother, could know that Emma was a woman.
This also meant that although Dee Dee was the captain of their ship, Barry conducted all official business on the island, and relayed everything back to Dee Dee with Emma’s help. The three pirates worked carefully together to avoid the pitfalls of the law.
Emma didn’t see why they needed to follow the old rules at all. They weren’t even pirates anymore, technically speaking, since their ship had received the coveted Letter of Marque from Hawkins just last year. That made their piracy legitimate in the eyes of the British crown, yet they were still treated as outcasts by the snobbier members of society, and sometimes the crew still took jobs that weren’t quite above board, if they paid well enough.
Their last treasure hunt had been off the books, in fact. Hawkins had requested a scroll of some kind that they eventually found in the library of a monastery at the base of the tallest mountain on St. Lucia Island. Emma didn’t exactly like stealing from monks, but Hawkins had promised the scroll would lead to great riches for all of them. They needed to keep the scroll safe until tomorrow morning, when they could all meet with Hawkins, and Emma just happened to know the safest place on the island.
“Gran?” she called out when she had reached her grandmother’s house and slipped inside, “it’s me.”
One slight squeak of the floorboards was all the warning Emma received before her grandmother was rounding the corner into the entryway, brandishing her pistol.
“I’m warning you, I- Oh Emma dear, how wonderful to see you. I didn’t recognize you in that smart coat.”
Chuckling, Emma wrapped her grandmother in a tight hug.
“I missed you.”
“I missed you too, my darling girl. Although I think you return dirtier every time you visit. Come here.” Betsy grips the back of her granddaughter’s head and pulls it closer to her eyes to see in the low light. “You’ve got some dirt right on your chin, for heaven’s sake.” She raises a thumb to her mouth and wets it, bringing it down to Emma’s jawbone with a small, fierce swipe before Emma manages to squirm away.
“Gran,” she bemoans, “you know I have to be disguised here. It took me ages to get the stubble right.”
“Oh, so it’s stubble now? That’s a refreshing change.” Betsy snarks, grinning devilishly until Emma smiles back tiredly. “Why don’t you wash up while I get you something to eat.”
Emma thinks about protesting, but decides to humor her grandmother. “Yes Gran.” She agrees softly, trudging her way into the toilet. Grabbing a small towel she finds, she fills the washing bowl with water and pours soap into it to get it frothy, and strips out of her clothes. She quickly wipes her body off, careful to avoid her face, allowing her to leave her glasses on and so that her vaguely bearded disguise remains intact, and dries off just as swiftly, before putting her dirty clothing back on. The clothing doesn’t do much to hide her feminine curves, but the many layers at least help disguise her to the naked eye- unless one knew what to look for. She’s thankful that the general raggedness of her crew also serves to hide her in plain sight.
The only thing that could be considered opulent in Emma’s wardrobe would be the coat she now donned. Her grandmother was right, it was a smart coat- a dark emerald green with black velvet cuffs, golden trim, and shiny gold buttons.
She remembered the day she stole it vividly. Two months into their latest journey and Emma’s previous coat had torn beyond repair in a skirmish with another pirate crew who had aimed to steal any treasure aboard. Since they had recently begun their journey, they hadn’t had any treasure, so after an hour of confused fighting, each crew had gone on their way, no worse for the wear- save Emma’s poor coat.
When they docked next, she and Dee Dee had roamed surreptitiously through the town, keeping an eye for any misplaced articles of clothing they could snatch. It wasn’t until the end of the night, when they saw a ruddy-faced man take off his ornate hat and coat and toss them over a nearby post, to engage in a fight outside the bar he had clearly been a fixture in for several hours, that they swooped in. The hat was a bit too lavish for Emma’s taste, but Dee Dee immediately decided she had been needing a new captain’s hat anyway, and that was the end of that.
Emma gazed at her reflection in her grandmother’s looking glass, tucking her hair carefully into the plain tri-cornered hat adorning her head and walked outside to rejoin her grandmother in the kitchen.
“Gran, I have something of value. Can I hide it here until I can retrieve it in the morning?”
“Of course, darling, off you go.” Betsy waves a hand in Emma’s direction, not bothering to glance up from setting the table.
They had agreed long ago that Emma could use her grandmother’s house to store stolen goods overnight, as long as she didn’t tell Betsy where they were hidden, lest she be held accountable for her granddaughter’s thievery.
Emma returned before long, pulling out a chair to join her grandmother at the table and scarfing down the plate of food set in front of her for her first hot meal in months.
“They don’t feed you enough on that ship.” Betsy says, half-frowning.
“Gran, we’re out in the middle of the ocean,” Emma mumbles around a mouthful of turkey leg, “they feed us just fine, considerin’.”
“Don’t forget to chew your food, dear,” Betsy remarks mildly, shaking her head in affection.
Emma just nods in agreement, moving on to shoveling greens into her mouth.
“So, Emma, did you have any exciting trysts while you were off adventuring?”
Emma, fork halfway to her mouth, began to choke on air.
“You know, meet any locals, rescue any damsels, and the like?” Her grandmother asked again, eyes twinkling.
"Gran.”
Betsy cackles, wiping the edges of her eyes. “Alright, alright, eat your potatoes and you can escape my verbal jousting.”
Emma shakes her head, chuckling at her grandmother’s antics, and brings a speared potato half to her mouth, chewing on it thoughtfully.
Though she would never admit it to her grandmother, it had been a long time since she had felt the touch of another person in a sensual manner. The last had been the working girl down at the pub, Shelby, who had slept with her out of pity, over a year ago. At least, Emma thought it had been out of pity. The former buttery flavor of the potato turned bitter in her mouth, but she forced herself to finish the bite. Emma Nolan knew she loved women, but the problem her gender disguise presented was that she was too feminine as a man, and had yet to meet another woman, like her, who loved the fairer sex. She ate the rest of the potatoes on her plate at a normal pace, mulling it over in her head.
“I just worry about you, dear. I’m not going to be around forever, and my wish for you is to see you here, settled and happy, before I journey to the next world.”
Emma smiles warmly at Betsy. “Thanks, Gran. I just haven’t met the right woman for me yet.”
Betsy beams at her. “It will happen before you know it. And you can hold me to that promise. Don’t say I never gave you anything.” She winks at Emma.
Emma smiles and shakes her head at her grandmother’s antics. While she was slightly clairvoyant, her grandmother had repeated the same phrase after every prediction on Emma’s love life.
Standing up to clear her plate from the table, Emma stretched her arms out above her head. “Alright, Gran, I’m afraid I must be off to join the boys for a few drinks, or else they will send out a search party to find me.” She places her dirty plate in the wash bin.
“Have a good night, dear.” Betsy gestures to her cheek with a finger. Emma bends like a reed to kiss Betsy’s cheek with a cheerful smack. “I’ll see you in the morning. Love you.”
“Love you too, Gran.” Emma says, waving until she rounds the corner to the front door, exiting softly out into the night.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Angie is cleaning a glass at the bar and Emma is nursing her second pint of ale when she spots the sour-faced woman standing protectively at the foot of the stairs.
“Who is that?” Emma leans in to ask Angie covertly.
Angie glances in the direction Emma’s eyebrows are pointing toward, and has to contain a laugh.
“That, my young friend, is Veronica Greene. A piece of work, if you ask me, but she runs a tight ship with the girls and work-related injuries have drastically decreased since she and her daughter started working here.”
Emma feels both her eyebrows raise. So the pub had a new Madame. It wasn’t often that they got new blood in the brothel, so Emma was surprised to learn of the presence of two new people in the crew’s most-frequented stop on the island.
“If that’s the mother, where is the-” Emma stops her sentence suddenly when a figure rounds the top of the stairs, the woman who steps into Emma’s field of view making Emma’s breath stutter in her chest.
She is the most beautiful girl Emma’s ever seen.
She must’ve said that out loud, because Angie chuckles behind her, but Emma can’t bring herself to take her eyes off of this newcomer.
She’s wearing a black silk bathrobe that is haphazardly tied with its matching belt, slinking down the steps as she goes, the man she had been entertaining upstairs following her like a lost pup to the entryway of the bar. He only pauses in his devout steps long enough to drop four or five coins into Mrs. Greene’s outstretched hand.
She has shoulder-length, brown, gloriously curly hair. Emma wants nothing more than to run her fingers through it. Until one shoulder of the woman’s robe slips off, exposing a whole new area of caramel skin that Emma needs to taste before she does anything else ever again, including breathe.
Before her brain can catch up to the rest of her body, Emma has put her drink down on the bar and stood up with a screech of her stool. The other woman’s eyes flicker over to latch on to hers. Emma sees her lips part from across the room, and suddenly has another thing she needs to taste.
Still not coherent of her own movements, Emma fishes two golden coins from her coin pouch and places them on the bar for Angie, not taking her eyes off the new girl for a moment, although the other woman had regrettably had to look away to say goodbye to her John. She allows him to kiss her cheek as a goodbye and her eyes dance back to Emma, who has been crossing the room, entranced.
“Goodbye, Georgio,” the brunette finally speaks, and Emma can feel her heart kick into high gear at the sound of her voice. “I’ll see you next week, same time and place.” She winks at him but her coy smile feels like it’s just for Emma, and Emma feels her traitor heart give a shudder. As soon as the brunette sees the front door shut firmly behind him, she flicks her eyes back to meet Emma’s, who had come to a standstill in front of her.
“Forgive me, I-” Emma breathes, “I’ve never seen anyone as beautiful as you are. I just… I simply had to meet you.” Emma holds out her hand, hoping that the girl will allow her this. The other woman places her hand in Emma’s, as she had hoped she would, and Emma brings the hand to her lips to kiss it, ever so gently. “My name is Ezra.”
She holds her breath, praying that her makeup disguise will hold for now.
“Ezra.” The other girl states. Her eyes rake over Emma’s body before rising to trace every angle of her face. “You may call me Alyssa.”
“Alyssa!” She suddenly feels the presence of Alyssa’s mother at her shoulder before she can see her. “Did you just give this young man your real name? What did we just go over this morning?” Mrs. Greene drags Alyssa away from Emma, clearly determined to lecture her, never mind the consequence of a potential suitor overhearing her.
Alyssa shifts her weight, growing more visibly uncomfortable as the silence drags on, unsure of what to do. She finally answers her mother, meekly, the confident Alyssa of one minute ago gone. “Men aren’t paying to sleep with me, they’re paying for the experience of sleeping with a stranger and going home to their wives.”
“Exactly.”
Emma had heard enough. She marches over to the pair with an edge to her step and a glint in her eye.
“How much for the whole night?”
“Ex-excuse me?” Veronica Greene blinks, aghast.
“How much. For. The Whole. Night.” Emma grits out between clenched teeth.
“More than you could afford.” Veronica says, before casting an appraising eye on the gold trim on Emma’s coat. “Well. Perhaps not. Twenty gold pieces.”
“Twenty?” Alyssa asks, incredulous, “that’s enough for every night this week!”
Her mother shoots her a glare that could cut through metal, but Emma just digs into her coin purse.
This was going to hurt.
“Very well.” She states, placing the handful of coins into Veronica’s outstretched hand. She tries not to wince. There went a quarter of her savings, but it was worth it just for this moment. “I’ll be seeing you every night this week, I suspect.” Emma takes a step toward Alyssa, holding out her hand, which Alyssa takes almost immediately once again.
“I am eager to get to know the real you, Alyssa.” Emma says, pointedly within earshot of Alyssa’s mother.
Alyssa beams at her, and Emma would gladly give every coin in her pouch to keep that look on Alyssa’s face.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Alyssa pulls them into the third room on the left at the top of the stairs, shutting the door firmly behind them and turning the key in the lock.
“There. Now no one can disturb us.”
“Disturb us… from what?” Emma asks hoarsely, swallowing.
Alyssa smirks. “I’ll let you figure that out. But first-“
Alyssa crosses to Emma, taking the other woman’s face in her hands and pressing their lips together fiercely. Emma gasps into the kiss, and their mouths slot together even closer than before.
Alyssa pulls away not long after, and Emma chases her lips, causing Alyssa to grin and her eyes to grow soft around the edges.
“What, uh…. what?” Emma blinks in confusion.
“That’s to thank you. You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to rebel against my mother in even the slightest way, and you just let me do exactly that.”
Before she knows it, Emma has been corralled into Alyssa’s bed, sitting suddenly when the backs of her knees buckle on the edge of the mattress.
“If you’d like, I can continue thanking you in a way that’s fun for both of us.” Alyssa smirks, boldly placing a knee on either side of Emma’s legs. She reaches to take off Emma’s tri-cornered hat and immediately buries her hands in Emma’s newly-freed hair, and pulls the girl toward her mouth once more.
Emma gets lost in the kiss, hands coming up to clutch at Alyssa’s hips in fervent desperation, her mind empty of everything that is not hips , lips , Alyssa , until she feels Alyssa’s hand slide from her hair, down her neck, and land just below her collarbone. Her brain finally catches up to her body, and remembers what Alyssa will discover if she goes any lower. She breaks the kiss regretfully to look at Alyssa’s face.
“Sorry, I… have something to tell you.” Emma starts cautiously.
Alyssa’s eyes are hooded and her mouth is swollen, and she hasn’t taken her eyes off of Emma’s mouth since they stopped kissing. “Can it wait?” she asks, a touch impatient.
“No.” Emma states firmly. This shakes Alyssa out of whatever trance she had been in and she finally meets Emma’s eyes.
“What’s wrong? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No, no, nothing like that.” Emma takes a stabilizing breath. “I just wanted to… make sure you knew what you were getting into.”
Alyssa frowns at her. “...Yeah? I mean. It’s pretty obvious that you’re a pirate. I’ve definitely slept with less moral people than yourself, though.”
The tips of Emma’s ears must ignite from how warm they become.
“Oh. Well, thank you. But that’s actually not what I meant.” She swallows once more, steeling herself. “My name isn’t Ezra.”
Alyssa smiles at her. “I figured. I don’t blame you, not giving out your real name to the local prostitute. It’s okay.”
“No I-” Emma cuts herself off, instead lowering her forehead to Alyssa’s shoulder and exhaling dramatically. “You’re sweet.” She takes a moment, inhaling the swirl of spices she could smell on Alyssa’s neck, before pulling back once more. “You smell like cinnamon.”
Alyssa grins lopsidedly at her. “Alright, Romeo. What is it that you’re trying to say?”
“I am… not a man.” When Alyssa simply blinks at her, she barrells onward. “My name is Emma. I have to disguise myself when I’m here for… pirate reasons. I- I never meant to deceive you, and I’m sorry that I have.” She bows her head, gazing at Alyssa’s right kneecap to avoid the judgement she knows she’ll find in her eyes.
Except.
When Alyssa gently tilts her chin back up, she finds nothing but warmth swimming in them.
“I know.”
“You…. I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”
Alyssa smiles at her indulgently. “I know you’re not a man. For starters, I could tell you were hiding something just by your mannerisms; adjusting your coat one too many times, doing perimeter checks every few minutes. Then secondly, your charming stubble is ever so slightly smudged right here .” She swipes a thumb over a spot on Emma’s jaw, and Emma recalls her grandmother doing a similar motion earlier. She groans.
“Perfect.” she says, rolling her eyes at herself. Her smile lets Alyssa know there’s no animosity behind it, and Alyssa laughs. “Well, hopefully no one else noticed. Like your mother.” Emma’s face scrunches in distaste, and Alyssa laughs again.
“Oh trust me, had my mother even suspected, you would not be in my bed right now.”
Emma’s ears warm again.
“You’re very cute when you’re flushed, did you know that?” Alyssa inquires, eyes dancing jovially. “Do you want to get more comfortable? That jacket must be getting a little stifling.”
“You’re not wrong.” Emma acquiesces, pulling her coat off by the sleeves. She’s sitting on the tail of the coat, so she leaves it puddled on the bed for now, loathe to move Alyssa. Her arms wrap back around Alyssa’s waist snugly.
“Better?” Alyssa asks, and Emma nods. “Good. Now, as much as I love sitting on your lap and making you blush, would you like to lie down instead?” Emma nods again, letting go of Alyssa reluctantly.
When she stands, Emma picks up her discarded coat and lays it across the back of a lounging chair near Alyssa’s bed.
“Alyssa, do you have any charcoal I can use in the morning? I’d love to take this off.” She gestures broadly to her face.
“I do,” Alyssa nods, “there’s a cloth next to the washbin you can use on your face.”
“Thank you.” Emma walks across the room to the other side of the bed, and carefully begins wiping her face so she doesn’t get any soap in her eyes. She returns to the bed and settles down on the all-white linens, feeling cleaner than she has in months.
Emma nearly closes her eyes in the relief that comes from lying on a bed for the first time in months, but Alyssa clears her throat pointedly. “You are very beautiful, Emma.” Alyssa says, her voice a touch deeper than it had been earlier. Emma glances over and immediately breaks out in a sweat.
Alyssa has hiked the ends of her dressing robe up to reveal most of her leg, and the v of her neckline has deepened even further than before. Emma swallows, hard.
“See anything you like?” Alyssa practically purrs.
“God. Everything .” Emma whispers, bringing her hand up in a trance-like state and caressing her jaw, her thumb catching on the corner of Alyssa’s mouth. Alyssa lets out a ragged gasp at the contact, eyes ablaze.
“But. Um. Is it okay if we just… talk?” Emma asks slowly, dropping her hand. “I feel a little odd about paying your mother for you to sleep with me. I wasn’t joking earlier when I said I wanted to get to know the real you, Alyssa. And… if we do sleep together, I don’t want you to do it out of obligation, I want you to do it because you want to sleep with me.” Emma meets Alyssa’s gaze with great trepidation.
“Trust me, me wanting to sleep with you is not an issue here.” Alyssa says, eyes dropping to Emma’s mouth briefly. “But I would never force you into something uncomfortable for you. Of course we can just talk.”
Alyssa adjusts her robe to be slightly more conservative, and scoots down the mattress in a manner so adorable that Emma’s insecurities fly out the window and she simply grins at Alyssa.
Alyssa grins back, turning on her side to face Emma. When their hands brush, both girls thread their fingers together as if they had been doing it for years.
“What would you like to know, Captain?” Alyssa smirks.
Emma laughs. “Definitely not the captain.” She reaches up to adjust her glasses. “Okay. What has been your greatest motivation so far in life?”
Alyssa runs her thumb over Emma’s, thoughtful. “I suppose I’d have to say… interconnectedness.”
Emma nods seriously. “I’d have to say my biggest motivator up until this point would have to be… booty.”
Emma grins at Alyssa, wiggling her eyebrows. Alyssa takes her free hand and drags it down her face, agonizingly slow.
“You did not just make that joke.”
“Every pirate is contractually obligated to make that joke whenever possible. Our contracts say 1. Worship the sea as your goddess 2. Listen to your captain 3. Make as many ‘booty’ jokes as you can possibly manage.”
“If this is what getting to know you is going to be like, I’m having second thoughts.”
“Oh please. You think I’m charming, remember?” Emma moves her head closer to Alyssa’s.
“I also think you’re an idiot.” Alyssa breathes, moving closer as well.
“Oh yeah?” Emma says, mouth an inch from Alyssa’s.
“Yeah.” Alyssa states, stretching her neck to close the gap between them with a sound kiss to Emma’s lips.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When they grow too tired to talk, Emma buries her head into Alyssa’s neck, reveling in the feeling of the other girl’s arms coming around her, keeping her safe and snugly slotted to her body perfectly.
Emma sighs as she drifts off to sleep. I could get used to this, she thinks as the world dims around her.