A Truelove of Turtle Doves

Chpt 14 - Almost Intimate

"Vachel!" I called, waving an arm in his direction.

He swiveled around, looking for the source of the noise, before his eyes landed on me. He grinned and waved back, before cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting back "Bonjour (Y/N)! Good to see you!"

I rushed up to him as he headed towards me. We met on the ramp leading up to the ship.

"I assume you are here to see Francis, no?"

"Yeah. Is he available?"

"Oui. Follow me."

We passed by many crew members still carrying out repairs and loading things onto the ship. A few nodded at me and others waved, actions which I returned to them. The door to Francis' room was just up ahead when Vachel spoke up.

"The Captain seemed hopeful that you would come by and visit him. He was rather... anxious, I suppose, yesterday when you didn't."

That shocked me. I had never seen Francis anxious before. I'd seen him upset, frustrated, curious. Usually, he was confident and flirty. In fact, the emotion seemed so unlike him, that I was having difficulty picturing it.

"Really?"

Vachel nodded. "Oui. He seems to have taken a liking to you, if I may say so."

I found myself blushing lightly at his comment.

Reaching the door, Vachel knocked on it three times, and was met with a simple "Entrez."

He swung it wide open.

"Captain, you have a visitor."

Francis looked up from his desk and met my eyes. A massive smile spread across his face and I couldn't help but return it.

"Mon chéri!"

"Hey Francis. I hope I'm not disturbing you or anything."

"No, no, not at all! Please, come in!"

He stood up, gesturing for me to enter his living quarters. I thanked Vachel who simply nodded and left the two of us alone, but not before sending both myself and Francis a smirk. It almost made me want to punch him. Almost. Taking a seat on one of the chairs, Francis moved to pour himself a glass of wine.

"Would you like any, mon chéri?"

"No, thank you. I think I'll pass."

He nodded, sitting in the chair next to me. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company to today?"

"I, um... just... wanted to see you, actually. I would've come by yesterday, but my parents wouldn't let me out, so I thought I'd come by today."

His eyebrows furrowed a bit as he set his glass down on the desk.

"Quoi? Your parents wouldn't let you out? Why?"

"Oh, they just wanted to spend some 'proper time together'. It wasn't anything serious."

"I see."

"Also, um..." I cleared my throat, "J'ai pratiqué mon français." I have been practicing my French.

I had. I'd managed to find a few books in some of the many many shelves we had throughout the house and I had spent a bit of time going through them. Of course, I hadn't made any massive improvements. I'd simply brushed up on my tenses, sentence structure and a few key words. Reviewing the basics wasn't too hard as I'd done a bit of French when I was younger, but my memory of it all was still a bit rusty.

Francis looked surprised, but he soon smiled broadly. "Magnifique, mon chéri." Wonderful, my darling.

He thought for a moment.