Author's Note: Busy times! But I'm glad I finally got the chance to edit this monster of a chapter. Also, vacations are apparently not the most productive time to work on lingering fics.

For those I can't send a personal response to, thank you for the lovely feedback. And thank you everyone for reading. Enjoy!

Chapter Five

Madi watched from the doorway as Kofi shuffled carefully but quickly down the hill in the pouring rain. She uttered a silent offering of safety for his successful return. In the distance, she could see the trail his journey would take him and the ship waiting in the distance for what he would bring. She smiled knowing the plans of her and her allies were firmly in motion.

Her long-time guardian, her friend didn't look back as he set sure foot toward his mission's completion. When he'd left her in Silver's care, Madi had seen how everything in him screamed to stay behind to protect her. He'd argued passionately for any alternative – only on matters of her safety would he dare attempt to overrule her. Yet he had left her all the same because it stood the only wise choice on their short list of options. There'd been no claim of doubt to her remaining safe from injury or mortal danger in his absence. No, Kofi, knew that no harm would come to her on that front. However, there were other threats afoot, more intimate and person dangers, that he vowed to protect her from. And unfortunately, John Silver held the role of the villain in Kofi's mind on this.

It'd been a routine errand: exchange intelligence and resources funneled to the Resistance on Nassau through this remote travel route. Due to the large amount of money to be exchanged, Flint or Silver's presence was ideal; but Flint was busy gathering additional men with Teach, and that left Silver to the task. For accountability, it was necessary for Madi to be present as well, not because she didn't trust Silver – he was the only one for whom she did hold such regard. Rather, it called on appearances to be respected. For her status as an equal partner, she must carry the same burdens for the sake of her men, his men, and their partners in the Nassau Resistance.

They'd completed the exchange as planned. What they hadn't accounted for was the weather frustrating their plans, wreaking havoc on their ability to get onto and away from the island efficiently. As soon as possible, they needed to pass the intelligence on to Teach and Flint who were a quarter of a day's journey by longboat from where the Walrus waited for them. But when the rain set in, their timetable for descending the hill from the outpost in which they'd taken shelter became accelerated. If they wanted to reach the beach and then the ship before the weather made it impossible to complete their task, they needed to make great haste.

And when this involved traversing rapidly muddying and slippery terrain, made treacherous even for the most sure-footed, it became virtually impassable for one who lacked both legs to navigate this.

Madi turned her head slightly to the man who sat at the window. Perhaps he'd admit to brooding as he sat on the lone chair occupying the one-room, dilapidated outpost in which they found themselves. If she wished to make him even more cross, she'd point out that his sulking didn't change the facts of their circumstances; that they'd been left behind together in the need for speed and dexterity to complete their task.

She smiled, wondering if he truly didn't appreciate the benefits of this. It might amuse her to remind him.

Oh Silver had tried to pull rank and weight on Kofi, to the discomfort of the extra crewman they'd brought on their journey who was not used to the two men's rapport. They argued passionately, and by the end of things, Kofi seemed on the verge of allowing Silver to make his attempt, so frustrated with the debate and disdainful for the alternative. But they all knew the inevitable: neither Kofi nor Silver would allow her to make the trip and neither man would leave her behind under the protection of a junior crewman. And despite his pride, Silver simply could not successfully make the journey on one leg.

That left them as they were now, Kofi and the crewman, making good time on their return from what she could see from her position, and she and Silver left behind until the storm's clearing and more light made it less of a chance that they would break their necks descending to the beach.

Madi turned from her watch and closed the door behind her. Silver seemed to make no notice as he continued to stare blankly out of the window. The light would be gone soon leaving them mostly shrouded in darkness with no means for a fire. Madi removed her damp shawl and hung it on the door's protruding latch, hopefully to dry by morning.

Next, she moved to stand behind Silver laying a hand on his shoulder, lightly rubbing her thumb to his cheek as she did so. He didn't start at the touch, instead releasing a heavy sigh. After a few moments, he reached up to lay his hand on top of hers and squeeze. Taking that offering of acceptance, she removed his long coat from where he'd draped it over the back of the chair. She shook it out, found it too damp from the downpour they'd escaped, and hung it on an errant nail in the corner of the room. When she returned, she resumed her position behind him, gently caressing his shoulders. Again he reached up to gently hold one of her hands in his.

This moment, she thought, was why they were drawn to each other as they were. There seemed no need to hide their frustrations and vulnerabilities.

"I know this is hard for you," she said, carrying her voice over the rain coming down outside. "I cannot know all that you go through and all that you keep hidden away from your men or your captain. And from me."

"Not from you," Silver replied, his response quiet and sure. It scared her sometimes when he said such things, how open he'd always been about his trust in her as well as his attraction. She did not want to fall so fast. Yet it seemed as if he had willingly let this thing between them take him to his knees, eager to pull her along with him. The fear revealed itself that her heart went along so willingly.

Madi leaned down and placed a kiss at his brow before resuming her gentle massage. "I imagine that for your men, you must work so hard to remain at all times as sturdy as the trust they place in you."

As they stood in the fading light, a few stray raindrops would land on them through the high window. There weren't many places they could retire to in the one room shelter: a stable enough looking hammock was the only other furniture present. After their long journey, Madi wished to suggest that he rest, yet knew his mood to be too sour for that. She vowed to see him content.

Silver gripped her hand more firmly and brought her around to face him. At her prompting, she kneeled in front of him so he could look into her eyes. "I really could be better company. I'm sorry for that."

She let him loosely hold both her hands in his lap. "You think yourself weak because your body limits you. You ignore your strength that all your men see, your no-good pirates and even some of my people. I wouldn't be here with a weak dishonorable man. Kofi would not have allowed it either. When you were at your most vulnerable, I saw you, and I see you now."

Silver reached down to trace his thumb against her cheek before leaning down to place his forehead to hers. They remained still in this position for long moments until she pulled back to frame his face with her hands and look directly into his beautiful eyes.

"This man, John Silver, is worth going to battle with, worth allying with men I had sworn as enemies, worth sharing my affection, my trust.

Silver closed his eyes at that. "Why in god's name do you, Madi? What did I do to deserve this? Any of this?" His words sounded weary, his soul bruised, and it broke her heart.

"Maybe it's because you see me too." Silver opened his eyes to stare at her once more. "Do you know how many people, how many men, lay eyes upon me and see an opportunity for status among my people? Or see only the aspects my womanhood they pursue for their pleasure? I know what others would say about you, the warnings about your kind. And not just the nature of pirates, but the nature of the white man who have violated their slave women or feel emboldened to abuse women like me they view as property."

Silver nodded in understanding, stroked her cheek again to sooth the anger such thoughts had sparked. Instead Madi thought of the many times she'd caught the man in front of her taking her in with his gaze.

"When you look at me, you do so with respect. You may seek to negotiate but not to conquer. You see me for who I am, not for what I can do for you."

His swift movement to place his lips on hers delighted her. It only took a moment for him to intensify the kiss, tasting her deeply. Breaking away after a few moments of this, he pulled her to her feet and again stared at her in the fading light of the day. It was that usual stare that she'd gotten used to, unwavering and strong; a gaze focused directly on her eyes and nowhere else. He held her steady as he leaned her against the wall.

Tracing her features with his eyes, he examined every contour to her face. Madi did the same with her fingers against his tanned skin, the stray whiskers of his cheek, the curls of his hair that circled around his ear, his stern eyebrow over eyes so blue and piercing that it seemed to physically sting her. When her hand glided over his lips, he kissed them softly as he'd done the first time they'd given in to their mutual attraction.

"Madi, you're right, of course. You looked past this damned deformity, across an ocean of difference between us." He sighed and wrapped his arms around her. "Jesus, you knew me when I didn't know myself. And instead of using that knowledge against me, you made me stronger for it." He leaned in slowly to kiss her, seeming not able to hold back any longer. She eagerly accepted his affection.

"From the first moment I laid eyes on you, I saw your brilliance." He brushed his lips across her cheek, a smile at the corner of his lips. "And your danger." He moved to her other cheek and softly kissed her there too. "I came to know your kindness, and your strength. Your bravery." Letting his lips caress hers, he took her bottom lip between his and sucked lightly. "And yes I saw your beauty, marvel at it every day, even when I'm away from you." She allowed him to taste her more fully. They were now breathing heavily into each other. Her hands began to roam across his firm chest, her thumb stroking at the exposed skin. "When I look at you," he whispered in between tastes of her, "I think of all these things and I want you to be mine."

Madi felt warmed and aching from his words. She smiled into them as they left his lips.

"And?" she replied. She felt the breath of his chuckle across her nose as he stared down at her.

"And," he said, taking her face in his hands. "I do believe that we have this place to ourselves for a while."

Madi laughed. "I see you have finally realized we are truly alone. Is that time meant to be wasted?"

A raised eyebrow greeted her inquiry. "Are you seducing me," he asked with shocked amusement.

Her fingers moved from the opening in his shirt to trail down his arm and rest at his waist where she fingered the belt at his hip.

"Perhaps."

Silver's response was to slide his body along hers as he pressed her none too gently into the wall.

This was possibly the only time they'd find themselves not only alone, but isolated for a stretch of hours where they were free to openly display the deep affection and attraction they felt for one another. It was likely the only time it would happen in the foreseeable future with a series of battles and challenges before them. Madi watched as the realization and appreciation rippled through him and he leaned it to get a fifth, sixth, and then endless taste of her.

She supposed she had her answer. No this was certainly not time to be wasted.

Silver moved nimble fingers to her belt, removing it before gripping her backside and discarding her outer skirt as well. A little slower to concentrate on such practicalities, Madi had only just removed his belt when he turned his attention to her top. Pulling her blouse from her undergarment, he let his hands linger against her skin underneath, resting against her back before making his way upwards to cup her breasts. When she gasped and clenched her eyes shut at the pleasure of his rough fingers encircling her nipples, she heard him sigh in utter contentment. He quickly removed her blouse then too, leaving her in her underclothes.

The lips at her cleavage felt wonderfully hot and wet against her skin. When he shifted the thin material of her bodice aside to let his tongue tease and arouse her further, she gripped his head and concentrated on the sensation of his hair between her fingers lest she lose herself from this attention. As he continued, she grabbed wildly at the back of his shirt, pulling it up and over his head, only momentarily distracted from his more thorough tasting of both her breasts. A fleeting thought inspired her to question how quickly their passions had been ignited and wondered at the consequences of it. The only explanation she could accept in the moment was that the ache and the yearning in the both of them would not be denied.

Silver returned to her mouth and pressed his bare chest to hers. "You are magnificent," he murmured, moving his now firm manhood against her hypnotically.

Madi had known the pleasures of a man before, but nothing had ever burned as brightly as her want for this pirate, this beautiful soul who made her feel the possibilities of both their worlds combined.

Unfastening his trousers, she distracted and enticed him with sure strokes of her hand on him. His groans, masked by the pounding of the rain against the old wood outpost frame, only encouraged her, made her want more and made her determined to get it. His sharp grip at her wrist to still her invoked a grin at his pained expression.

"Mmm, yes you're very dangerous," he said gliding his hand from her wrist to entwine with her fingers.

He focused again on tender, lingering kisses, his tongue exploring her mouth as his free hand explored her exposed skin. She let him set the pace, content to bear the pressure of his weight pressing her harder against the wall. She considered and dismissed the idea of suggesting they retire to the chair he'd vacated, concerned for the stress on his leg and possibly a little eager to sit astride him and help them both find their pleasure. Instead, she recognized that maybe he needed this, an assertion of his strength and control; a plan of action on his terms even if behind closed doors. No, she would not compromise seeing what he had in mind instead – and enjoy it completely, as would he.

After several moments, he lay her arm across his shoulders doing the same with her other as he continued to kiss and stroke her. He then gripped her hips in his hands, grabbing at the material of her underskirt and letting it reveal her from the floor up inch by inch. Soon she would be fully exposed to him; her center throbbed at the anticipation and she keened softly as he devoured her mouth in more sensuous, wet kisses.

Her body seemed to move without her conscious direction to do so, and at some point, she felt her knee grazing his waist and hooking around his leg. A moment later, he slid inside her, both of them moaning into the howling wind and rain.

Silver held still against her, but not for long. Her tightness around him left an uncontrollable need for friction and it wasn't long before they were both panting with movement, pulsing as their need became satisfied. He balanced himself by gripping her hip hard and pinning her even more firmly against the thin wall of the outpost. Madi briefly wondered if it was possible to bring the whole thing down with the power of their lovemaking, Silver's thrusts hard and wanting against her.

And then she only wondered how long it would be before she split apart from the pleasure of his insistent rhythm.

The thought had barely left her mind when she felt his hands at her backside and a swift scooping of her into his arms, her legs encircling his waist as he held still once more against her. Two steps back and she found herself straddling him in the room's chair, another of her fantasies unfolding as she resumed their joining. He kissed her everywhere he could reach, her breasts, her face, her neck and shoulders. He moved with her as she ground herself against him, wanting to give him as much pleasure as she could; show him that she was his, no matter his false leg or their uncertain future. When he brought his fingers under her skirt to play along her center where they were joined, she let out a cry of pleasure and saw the hint of a satisfied smirk play across his face in the shadowed room. It disappeared in a grimace of the sweetest ache when she gripped the back of the chair and squeezed him further inside of her.

The pressure building and the dampness settling once again on their skin, they took each other to the brink of their bodies' greatest pleasures. Discretion forgotten, they openly declared their ecstasy to the elements and the isolation of their shelter as the storm raged outside. Flashes of lightening illuminated for the briefest of moments and she could witness the beauty of his surrender. And he hers. As their release approached, he rested his head at her breast and murmured her name over and over, hands roaming against her back as she buried her fingers in his hair and pressed him to her.

At the pinnacle and ebbing of their union, it was the silence that she later remembered. The pressure of his release and wetness to their joining a distant sensation to the clenching in her heart at the strength and beauty of their feelings for each other.

Later, after they lay in the hammock together holding each other with his coat draped over them to stave off the night's chill; after they drifted off to sleep and woke to make love slowly in the cocoon of their modest bed; after they rose before dawn to carefully start down the still muddy but less treacherous trail to the beach, Madi wondered what their return to the ship and her home would mean. Yet she didn't linger on the idea. It would be what it would be, and she'd hold on to her contentment for as long as fate deemed it possible given the trying times ahead. She reveled in the warmth of his hand as they helped each other down the dirty slope, slipping on occasion and laughing at their predicament. By the time they reached the edge of the beach to see Kofi and several others rowing toward them a ways away, they were both covered from head to foot in mud from their falls and loving every second of being together like this without the watchful eyes and pressure of their respective roles.

As Madi took off her soiled flats and rinsed them in the incoming tide, Silver stood above her and grinned. "We're going to have to get you some proper pirate attire you know. Or at least some decent boots," he added wincing at the mud-caked shoes.

Madi stood and returned her shoes to her feet, not minding the dampness, although she did not reveal this to Silver. The thought of him dressing her in such a manner had its appeal. "I see," she said challenging him, her amusement only slightly masked. "Will I get a hat like Miss Bonny?" she inquired.

"You can have whatever you like, as long as I get to take it off of you on occasion." The heat in his expression did not go unnoticed. She imagined hers reflected the same.

"Then I shall consider it," Madi said. "Now come, let us meet our companions." At that point, the boat had arrived at the shoreline ready for them to board.

"Yes, ma'am," Silver responded. "Please, lead the way." He followed her down the beach, his mood considerably improved from the night before. "You know, I'm going to miss that place."

"It is possible that we will return. When we retake Nassau." Madi turned and flashed him a defiant grin full of all the promise she felt in this moment.

TBC …