A Runaway Princess at Sea (bill x fem.dipper)

Chapter 31

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly much to Dipper's joy. She wouldn't have been able to stand it if everything had passed slower than a snail's pace. She also had Jake to thank for that too. He really helped her get things done. It was the same for the next day and the day after that. It seemed she was getting better and faster at the chores as well as her ability to keep down her deadly meals.

Despite being quicker, it still seemed as if Dipper had a million things to do on the ship. Cooking, sweeping, mopping, laundry, inventory, checking the sails, the list seemed never-ending. Being so preoccupied, she had almost no free time to find clues to find the possible suspects who might be ratting the ship and the captain out. Unless accidentally discovering the fact that Eightball secretly writes romance novels during his spare time counts. It wasn't exactly groundbreaking, but it was a start. Unfortunately, it was in the wrong direction.

Dipper noted that fact in the back of her mind.'While it's not important to know, it could be useful if I need to use it as blackmail later on down the road.'

Something else that surprised Dipper even more was the interest and questions the crew had about what happened earlier that week, and oh lord did they have questions. After the initial shock wore off, most of the men were swarming Dipper with their repressed curiosity that they couldn't hold back anymore. They were also pleasantly surprised when she returned their excitement with answers. How did she find out about the attack? How did she make a plan so quickly? What happened between her and the captain during their stay that caused them to avoid each other? To all of them, she proudly explained each and every detail. However when she heard that last question;

"That one is..uh..classified."

That was all she said regarding that topic. Quite the awkward moment that she really did not want to be replayed no matter how much everyone asked.

And just like that, two weeks went by. It was now a total of 2 months since Dipper was allegedly kidnapped. Everyone was once again busy with keeping the ship in shape. Canons to be polished, guns to be reloaded, gunpowder to be rationed and a whole lot more. It was more bearable during the day but so much more difficult when the sun went down earlier and earlier and getting colder. Everyone was kept on their feet for hours and didn't have much time to rest. At least it kept them warm.

Once again the cleaning duo was left to the basics. Jake was pulled away for something else so that just left her on the deck. Dipper sighed and stopped at her sweeping. She breathed on her hands while rubbing them together, trying to warm them up in the cold October air.

She glanced over to the Captain's quarters where she could see Bill pacing through the small window in the door. He seemed to be talking to someone about something serious, which was odd since she hadn't seen anyone go in or out in the past couple of hours.

'Might be the elusive right-hand man of his or something.' Dipper wondered. 'It could be Will. He's pretty quiet for a pirate, so he could've gotten by without being noticed.'

Neither spoke about that night, and Dipper was glad for that. The less curious Bill was about her past the better. Every single one of the crew members had a thing or two that they didn't want exposed to the world and the same went for her. But Bill was an inquisitive sort and she knew that while he didn't show or say anything, he wanted to know everything as to how and why Dipper was knowledgable in her ability to disguise such a grotesque situation. However, he won't be able to find anything useful or noteworthy. Her family made sure of that, and hopefully, it would stay that way for a long time.

Just as she was about to move on, Dipper caught something moving to the left in the corner of her eye. The evening fog made it hard to tell but when the familiar shape of Teeth was somewhat visible, Dipper grumbled.