Tides of deception ✺ Outlander/Stephen Bonnet Fanfic

♤15. The green monster

The ship creaked gently as it rocked in the Jamaican harbor. In the stillness of the night, Maria lay on her back in their cabin, staring up at the darkened ceiling. The tension from the ball still weighed heavily on her, and Stephen's coldness had only amplified her doubts. Yet, something had shifted within her during the evening. As she lay there, her mind wandered to the decision she had made, one she hadn't yet shared with him.

She wasn't going to leave.

Beside her, Stephen lay in silence, his frustration and anger palpable even though he wasn't saying a word. His jaw was clenched, and his body remained stiff. The rejection he had felt the past days still lingered, unspoken, in the space between them. He had opened himself up in a way he hadn't done before, and her retreat had stung more than he'd admit.

Maria turned her head slightly to look at him, but he remained facing the ceiling, his emotions locked behind a carefully maintained wall. She knew he was upset, maybe even hurt, but he would never show it. The words they weren't saying hung in the air between them, heavy and suffocating.

"I'm not leaving," she whispered into the quiet, her voice soft but steady.

Stephen's breathing hitched for a fraction of a second, a sign that her words had reached him, but he didn't respond. His eyes remained fixed ahead, though she could sense the tension in him shift.

"I thought about it... the stones, finding a way back," she continued, her voice faltering as she spoke the words aloud. "But I don't want to go back, Stephen. I've chosen to stay with you."

He remained silent, but his grip on the blanket tightened slightly. He wouldn't show his emotions, not yet. The vulnerability he had shown her before was still too raw, and her previous rejection too recent. He wasn't ready to let his guard down again.

She lay still for a few moments, the silence stretching on, but the air between them felt different now-quieter, more accepting. Maria's hand, almost of its own accord, shifted toward him. Her fingers brushed against his arm, just the lightest of touches, but the contact was enough to send a shiver down her spine.

Stephen didn't move at first, but she could feel his muscles tense slightly beneath her fingertips. He didn't push her away, but neither did he pull her closer. He was still holding onto his anger, his pride bruised, but her touch, as subtle as it was, seemed to ease some of the sharpness in him.

Eventually, he turned onto his side, away from her, keeping the distance. Yet even in the act of turning away, there was something in the way he settled, the tension slowly fading, that told her he wasn't as cold as he wanted her to think

✺

The soft morning light filtered through the cabin's window as Maria stirred awake. Stephen was already up, sitting at the table with a cup of tea, his eyes distant as he stared out at the sea. The weight of the previous night still hung between them, but there was something quieter about him now, less agitated.

Maria joined him, sitting across from him at the small wooden table. For a moment, they sat in silence, the rhythmic creaking of the ship filling their silence.

Stephen's voice was low when he finally spoke. "You've never really told me about where you come from," he said, his tone carefully neutral. "2024, you called it?"

Maria was surprised by his question. They had never really talked about her life before, not in any real depth. When she was his prisoner, it didn't seem important, and after everything that had happened between them, it felt almost like a different life altogether.

"2024..." she echoed softly, unsure of where to start. "It's... different. A world of machines, technology, things you wouldn't believe. I lived in a small apartment in a city. My parents-" She swallowed hard, the memories of them surfacing. "They passed away when I was 18."