Stephen plight

part 4

Bonden's eyes shot open. There was a loud banging sound, and someone was desperately rubbing at his chest.

"Barrett, wake up!" Stephen hissed, clapping a hand over Bonden’s mouth. Bonden's eyes went wide, realization filling his mind.

"Stephen, wake up!" Jack shouted outside the door.

"You must hide. I don't know what he will do if he finds you here."

Stephen man handled him out of the cot and into a corner. When he had to move boxes in front to hide him, he called out.

"I'm awake dear, give me a moment. I'm in my skins."

He swiftly moved boxes until Bonden was hidden from sight. He checked his work and then opened the door for Jack, putting on his best sleepy face.

Jack promptly stepped in.

"I didn't want to think it."

He was scanning the room anxiously.

"Think what? Pray?" Stephen asked.

"That you would let him in here."

Stephen cocked his head innocently, sparing Jack to clarify.

"Bonden. He's gone missing. He's not in his cot like he should be. Some boys suggested he might have come here too -" Jack spun around to look Stephen in the eye. "Sleep."

"He's not here. I've only just woken, but I haven't seen him since two days passed."

"Is that so?" Jack crossed the short distance to Stephen.

"Yes, Jack, why would I lie?"

"Because you have a certain fondness for him."

"Nonetheless, I have not seen him." Stephen stared at him, challenging him to press forward.

Jack had not seen Stephen with this much vigor since the start of this whole sorry affair. Perhaps he had been mistaken to assume? But Bonden was nowhere to be seen. True, he was not on duty till half past ten, but what reason would he have to not be in the birth?

Stephen deflated slightly and sat down in his cot, running a hand through his disheveled hair.

Jacked felt a ping in his gut, watching him. If only Stephen could be the way he was when they had first met.

The fire was still there, the insatiable wit and sharpness. But the fondness for himself, Jack feared, had lessened. And there was nothing for it. The more he tried to push the competition away, the farther Stephen drifted.

The harder he tried to win Stephen back, the harder Stephen tried to flee.

"Jack. I can't keep doing this. You are growing increasingly intolerable by the day."

"I know."

"Then why do you insist on torturing me?"

“Stephen, I'm sorry. I don't know why I've been this way. I suppose I simply miss our old days.” He motioned with despair, remembering the way we were before all this.

Jack sat on the stool, setting his hands in his lap. Stephen watched him warily. Cold sweat ran down his back.

"What is it you miss precisely? We still play, I still dine with you at supper. I still walk the deck with you." He leaned slightly to block Jack's view of Bonden’s hiding place.

"I miss the way we used to talk. The passion." Jack said before looking away. "I miss you."

"Jack." was all Stephen said before Pulling’s burst through the door.

"A frigate, sir." He told the captain of a ship one midshipman had spotted off the starboard yard.

Jack jumped to his feet and headed for the door. But he looked back at Stephen with pain in his eyes. Stephen returned the look.

Once Stephen was sure Jack was on the deck, he shut his door and began to un-bury Bonden.

"That was close." Bonden laughed, pushing some boxes out his the way.

Stephen smiled at him, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, dear joy."

Bonden took Stephen's hand into his, rubbing circles into the cold flesh.

"It's hard to see him like this," Stephen said. "He's always been particular, but not like this. Never obsessive. He's been protective and pray! He's always been worried about me. But this is altogether something stronger." Stephen studied his thin hands in Bonden’s bigger, scared ones. A tear ran down his cheek.

Bonden wished he could find the words to comfort the doctor. But they all stuck in his throat, sticky with pain.