Playing for Keeps (a PIL fanfic)

Chapter 9

Two days later we arrive at prisoner island, where we hope to find the map. We've fallen slightly into a routine now on the ship. I usually help Nathan with the cooking most of the time, and helping Thomas or Russell in between meals. I like my new life, I'm not alone anymore. I have friends that are like my family now, and Nathan too. I never thought I'd find someone like him, but I'll be forever grateful that I did.

"What ya grinning about over there tomboy?" Nathan asks smiling, as we're getting ready to leave for prisoner island.

"Just thinkin' how I ended up here, and I like my new life." I answer, smiling back at him.

"Me too." he says reaching me, as he pulls me into an embrace, then kisses my forehead. I look up and smile, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "Ya ready?" he asks.

"Yea let's go." I exclaim. I'm kinda excited. We all split up in pairs again, to find our contact about the map on the island. It's unspoken now that I'm always paired with Nate, when we split off, which I'm happy about.

I take in our surroundings now, as we head towards the market, to try and get info, looking for our contact. "Wow there's a lot of wanted posters. Ya think ours are here somewhere?" I muse aloud.

"Of course." Nathan says laughing. "We're not that far from the local prison, they're up there somewhere." he adds.

I smile and let him tug me along. I can only imagine what we look like to other people. Probably an odd couple. Nathan, tall and handsome with his black bandanna, white shirt, blue undershirt. He's still wearing his apron too. He usually forgets to take it off. His chain wrapped around his waist, on top of the apron.

As for me, I know I probably look odd. My black knee high boots, on top of black pants, my red shirt, and my big brown trench coat with my swords strapped on. My long hair pulled up, and still wearing the necklace Nate got me. Maybe we just look like a couple of pirates. Though I guess that's what we are. I smile at the thought.

Nathan stops at a booth talking to someone in the market. "Were supposed to meet someone about a map." he tells the man quietly.

"If it's a map you're wanting, I'd try and go see old Ethan at the bar down the street, he would know." the vendor says, pointing down the street.

Nathan nods, and pulls me along again. "Do you think they would really tell us that easily?" I say, looking up at Nathan.

He shrugs. "Maybe, maybe not. Either way we'll go find out." he adds. I nod. We make our way to a dingy looking bar towards the end of the street. "Be on your guard." Nathan whispers. "I've got ya, but just be aware." he lectures.

"Alright princess." I roll my eyes at him, and he grins. We enter the bar, and it looks run down, like a pirate or thieves kind of bar.

We sit down, and Nathan slides some gold coins to the bartender. "Were lookin' for Ethan, who supposedly knows about maps." Nathan asks looking at the bartender.

The bartender looks back at Nate, then eyes me. "I'm Ethan, who wants to know." he growls at us. I look towards Nathan, wondering what the right answer is.

"The Sirus pirates." he answers quietly. The mans eyes widen a little, then motions for us to follow him. We get up and leads us to a back room.

"the Sirus pirates eh?' he asks looking us over. "How do I know your not navy mutts?" he asks.

"It'd take some balls to claim to be Sirus pirates and not be able to back it up." Nathan answers coolly.

"I don't recall the Sirus havin' a woman on the crew." He answers smugly.

"I'm newer, been on board a couple of weeks."I tell him, meeting his gaze.

He finally pulls out a map, and it appears to be the one we need. I take it and roll it up, and stash it in my boot. We leave the room, and get ready to leave the bar, but six men step in our way. Nathan glances back at the bartender, who grins. "That's the map, good luck leaving with it. Let's see what kind of pirates ya really are." he says smugly. That bastard.

Nathan whips out his sickle and chain, I take out my swords. We fight our way through the crowd, taking them all out easily enough, only getting a few scratches on us from them. The bartender looks stunned.

He grabs me and pulls me back. "You're not leaving with my map girly." he spits at me.

"Just watch me asshole." I growl, slicing his arm with my dagger. He lets go, and I run towards Nathan. Before the bartender can follow, I whip out a card. "You like cards Ethan?" I tease, as I hold up the card. He looks confused. I charge it, and throw it at him, he jumps back as it explodes.

We leave and run towards the ship, laughing. "That was pretty good there tomboy." Nathan says still laughing.

"Ya like that?" I tease, shoving him. We smile at each other, and he gives me a quick peck on the lips before we make our way on the ship. Russell and Christopher beat us back. "Hey Russ, Chris, any luck?" I ask as a greeting.

"No not really." Russell mumbles. Before we can tell them we found it, the rest of the crew gets back.

"Well crew, looks like we will have to try again tomorrow." captain announces.

I clear my throat. "Actually captain, we acquired a map from a bar." I say, as I pull it out of my boot, and give it to captain.

"Really, well then alright!!" Captain exclaims.

"How did you?" Eduardo asks, raising an eyebrow and smirking.

"We were told about some bartender, by our contact. He gave it to us, but gave us a hell of a time when we were leaving." Nathan answers.

"Funny thing is, he likes cards." I add laughing. The crew looks at us stunned and start laughing too.

"Well crew, looks like were headed to skull island!" Captain yells. "Well done Nathan, Arabella." Captain adds. We smile back. Then captain looks at Eduardo. "How long will it take us to reach skull island from here?"

"About four days." Eduardo replies, looking out towards the ocean.

He looks more distracted than normal. I look towards Nathan, whose glaring at Eduardo. His gaze meets mine, and he shakes his head, letting me know he'll tell me later. I shrug it off, knowing I'll just have to wait until later.

When we return to our room, I turn, looking at Nathan, waiting for him to explain. He shrugs. "Just a small disagreement. Don't worry about it." I raise my eyebrow, still waiting. Nathan sighs, and looks down. "Eduardo has feelings for you too... He's not exactly happy with me right now." He finishes, looking embarrassed.

"No shit?" I exclaim, genuinely shocked. "I always thought he hated me." I add. Nathan smirks.

"No, he doesn't hate you, he's just kind of awkward, and that's how he expresses himself."

"Hmmm. Well, I feel bad, but I can't help I fell for you." I say, looking up at Nate. That earns me a smile, and he takes me in his arms and kisses me gently.