Of Diamonds and Doubloons:

Hello readers, Thank you all for reading this story! And thank you all for your patience! I have 2 big projects due in for May as well as my Dissertation that I need to start asap. And on top of that I'm currently moving house; so I've been really busy and your patience is much appreciated! Anyway a big thank you to Erin, for her review! I'm glad you're enjoying it. And thank you all all you followers. Please review people, I don't bite and I do like to hear your input!

"People will talk you know, if you keep this odd 'tradition' up." Eleanor Guthrie laughed as she peeled a large brass key from a ring, swapping it for the bronze coins in Faith's open and offered hand. The pretty blonde eyed the smaller woman with a meaningful look.

Faith grinned a small smile of her own, closing her fingers around the cool, brass stem. "Wouldn't want that now would we?" she murmured, the slight upward tilt in her lips giving way to dimples in her cheeks.

"I'm serious Faith, be careful." Eleanor warned, her voice dropping a register as she whispered to her old friend, a look of concern clouding her blue eyes. "You know half the crews around here. If they think Billy can have his way with you, they'll almost certainly try it too. I may know it's innocent, but they don't. You are still a woman, in a floating cage surrounded by vicious and frustrated men. You will always be vulnerable to them."

The red head sighed and tilted her head, narrowing her eyes in defeat. "I know that Elle, I survive by performance and appearance. I'll be careful. Anyway, I couldn't do anything else with Singleton prowling the decks, cawing for a mutiny. Billy is the safest person to have by my side right now. The men trust and know him."

The blonde sighed and wrapped the pirate in a quick hug, before pulling away and thrusting two bottles of rum into Faith's hands. "Here, send Billy down when you've run dry. And I've given you the room with my biggest bed. I don't want to come rushing up there after hearing a loud bang, to find you on the floor, again."

Faith nodded and turned away, heading for the steps that led to the tavern's bedrooms in the upper floors. "That boy is far bigger than he realises." she commented back, just loud enough for Eleanor to hear.

"I'm sure he is." Faith laughed out loud at the insinuation and glanced mischievously over her shoulder. Before heading for their accommodation for the evening.

Faith almost jumped out of her skin when the door to their room flew open, and the tense figure of Billy stood silhouetted in the doorway. Only the candle light flickered the odd shaft of light across his features. Her belly bottomed out. Something was wrong. Billy stared at the ground, brows furrowed and jaw clenched, his hands flexing themselves into fists.

"What happened?" she asked, placing the rum bottle on the bedside table and making her way across the room to him. She stopped dead in front of him looking up into his clear, unseeing blue eyes. Only silence followed, like he was frozen in place.

"Billy?" she tried soothingly, running a hand gently down his arm. The attempt to rouse him from his stupor failed and she felt her insides squirm. "Billy, you're scaring me. What is it?" being a hardened pirate lass, Faith liked to believe there was little that frightened her, but Billy's cold statuesque appearance sent a chill running through her body.

"Billy!" She tried again, her voice trembling as she pleaded with him. She reached up to his face, laying her hands against his cheeks, the stubble across his skin scratching the flesh of her palms.

The new point of contact was enough to rouse Billy momentarily, his blue eyes gazing down into hers with an unnamed emotion. "We need to go." His voice was hoarse and his tone held such command that she instantly obeyed, any questions dying in her lips.

He took her hand in his and quickly led them through the bustling tavern, using the shadows as cover until they pushed their way through the front doors and into the warm Nassau night. Outside was pitch black. Faith had a feeling Billy had something to do with the lack of torches guiding their way as they headed towards the beach.

The eerie silence still remained and Faith could only cling on to Billy's hand as they cut a path through the pirate city.

On the shore, they stopped at a Jolly boat, a small oil lamp illuminating Flint, who sat watching her, his green eyes strangely calm in comparison to the storm that raged within the silent Bosun.

"Step lightly." Billy instructed her softly, as he crouched behind her, his strong arms bracing the sides of the tiny wooden vessel.

She swallowed and did as he asked, taking small steps she entered the bowels of the boat.

"Watch your feet." Flint commanded, nodding towards a long, bulky cargo that was covered by a sheet. The cargo made a hushed and pained moan.

Faith looked back at Billy wide eyed, her throat dry at the sound. His face was still set in the same stoic frown that had coated his features back in the tavern. She swallowed heavily, suddenly feeling very sick, her saliva tasting like ash in her throat.

"Lets get on with it." Flint nodded to the bosun, who followed his orders, pushing the boat out into the water until the sea lapped around his upper thighs. The captain offered him a steady hand as he climbed in, taking a seat beside Faith. He turned his face away from her questioning gaze, staring at the wet leather of his boots.

"We have some way to go yet. I'd suggest you get some rest." The captain's orders were directed to the female member of the party and Faith heaved a sigh, leaning against Billy's side for both cushioning and comfort. To her surprise he didn't move away from her, but neither did he wrap his arm around her waist like he would have if they were on board ship or drinking in the tavern. He remained facing outwards, his eyes as dark as the sea that lapped against the side of the ship, and his features being illuminated by the first rays of dawn the started to filter through the blackened sky.

It was light when Faith felt her eyes flickering open. Her back and neck ached from the odd position of her slumber, and she found herself alone on the side of the boat, a blanket folded beneath her head and Billy's coat draped across her body as a cover.

Billy was sat opposite her, his eyes watching Flint as he fussed around the now uncovered cargo. Faith drew in a sharp breath, the cargo was a very pale and very unconscious Mr Richard Guthrie. Their captain was steadily removing his belongings starting with his shoes, grey wig and rings.

Billy looked as if he was about to vomit.

"Billy?" She murmured, sitting up and staring at the sight before her, hands fiddling with the loose stitching at the hem of her friend's coat. Billy said nothing, but glanced quickly in her direction, offering a small smile that didn't reach his crystalline eyes.

"What are you doing?" Faith asked, feeling bold as she started down the fearsome captain, who was sliding the rings into a pocket.

"I don't believe any of the men have actually met him face to face. We need to find a safe place to stash him before he comes to and starts talking, but in the mean time, I don't want his clothes giving him away."

Faith nodded slowly, this part of Flint's plan made sense. What she didn't understand was why he was there in the first place. And why Billy had failed to smile or utter a single word since she got into the boat.

"You're going to pretend that isn't Richard Guthrie?" Billy words were hoarse, and spoken with thinly veiled irritation and misunderstanding.

"Soon, The news of Guthrie's arrest will hit the customs houses of Charleston, New York and Boston. Soon Nassau won't be able to sell to any legitimate port in the Americas. I don't want the crew worried about that. I need them focused on the Urca."

"Jesus, can you hear yourself?" Billy reprimanded and Faith raised her eyebrows surprised by her friend's unusual outburst. Everyone knew better than to talk back to the famous captain Flint. Clearly Billy was more shaken up about the whole ordeal than she realised. She laid a calming hand on his thigh, giving the muscled flesh a reassuring squeeze through the thin material of his trousers.

Flint fixed Billy with a fiery green stare.

"You spent months, months lying to us about what it is we're hunting out here." Billy continued, making his argument a little stronger. "And now when it's clear, you can't possibly succeed you want to keep lying?"

Faith moved to fully sit next to Billy, her body poised for damage control.

Flint continued to stare threateningly at his third in command.

"Maybe Singleton is right. Maybe it's time we made a change."

Faith swallowed hard and stared at Billy, hurt. They had always been against Singleton. No matter how angry their captain made them. Flint had damned the consequences of having a woman on board, had made her equal to the men. Had provided her with a future, clothing, food and the ability to do hard work to survive. Singleton would see her cuffed to the bed in her cabin, earning her keep on her back, until she became pregnant or too damaged to perform and then he'd haul her over the side – food for the hungry Caribbean sharks. Flint made some bad decisions, they had gotten terrible in recent months if she was honest, but he's also been a good captain, a steady earner who made his crew wealthy.

He glanced at her over his shoulder, watching her move as she stood up and moved closer to Flint, dropping his coat in a haphazard pile along the way. She sat down a way away from him, her face turned towards the open ocean, loose hair whipping about her face and her arms folding protectively around her body. She could feel Billy's eyes on her, his dark pupils burning a hole in her flesh.

She made no move to stop Flint as he stood to face Billy, his muscles uncoiling like a panther ready to strike. With a sharp intake of breath Billy jumped up to meet his captain, dagger stretched out in front of him in defence. Faith watched the goings on from the corner of her eye, but continued to face the great expanse of sea ahead of them.

"Think carefully." the captain's voice was a husky threat that shot worry through Faith's spine as she listened. Her heart ached. She knew Billy was scared, and shocked with the events of the evening and what he had come to learn. But he suggested turning his back on something that they had discussed a dozen times in the privacy of her cabin, he knew her feelings, and even the suggestion felt like he had heartlessly run her through.

"What lies ahead, Mr Singleton cannot see you through."

"And what is that?" Billy's voice sounded a little broken. But his face remained calm.

"A war is coming Billy ..." Flint started, but the bosun cut him off with an angry shout.

"One ship isn't a war!"

"One ship isn't what's coming. That man, Hume, Captain of the Scarborough told you as much." Flint stepped forward and Billy took a cautionary step back. "When the king brands us pirates, he doesn't mean to make us adversaries, criminals; he means to make us monsters."

Faith swallowed hard and looked down at her hands, studying the contours and callouses that had formed across the soft flesh from years before the mast. Her head hung low. What Flint was saying was true. The only place they could truly call home was Nassau, where all were equal and alike. People stared untrustingly at them when they walked the streets of Port Royal, and women called their playing children in from the streets, like their very presence was a curse.

"Because that is the only was his god fearing, tax paying subjects can make sense of a people who keep what is theirs and answer to no one." Flint stepped forward again, but this time Billy held his ground, dagger shaking minutely in his outstretched hand. "So, when I say there's a war coming, I don't mean with the Scarborough, or King George and England. Civilisation is coming. And it means to exterminate us."

Faith fought back a few burning tears that had crept into the corners of her eyes and stood up, having had enough of listening to the men's fight. She came between them, her honey coloured eyes looking in turn into both their blue and green. A flick of her wrist knocked Billy's blade out of his hand, leaving both men at equal standing.

"Enough." Her tone was hard and grating, instantly commanding the attention of the warring men. "If we are to survive this, We need to fight together."

"We must unite behind our own king." Flint continued, staring between the young woman and the bosun.

"We have no kings here." Billy breathed, he sounded winded and defeated.

"I am your king."

A whistle cut through the air announcing their proximity to the Walrus, stopping the heavy conversation heavily in it's tracks.

"Welcome back Captain!" called Gates as he threw a rope ladder down to the boat, allowing it's occupants to climb onto the ship.

"Ladies first." Flint offered waving Faith towards the rope with a cursory nod. She accepted and placed her foot on the side of the boat, using her weight to pull her up the rope. She had barely moved a meter when her hand slipped. Billy's bulky shoulder appeared beneath her in a flash, supporting her weight. She grunted an unlady like thank you and continued her climb.

"Faith, wait." Billy tried, his voice full of pleading and sadness. She looked down at him over her shoulder and furrowed her eyebrows. She shook her head in a firm no, before climbing the remainder of the way and disappearing over the side of the balustrade.