Before The Beginning

Chapter 27: Leaving

Begin!

~Beatrice's POV

In two months of him living here I noticed one thing about Ishmael: he liked to ask questions.

I can't say it bothered me, I have better things to worry about, but his curiosity about how we do things here was interesting. Nonetheless, Bertie and I had started making preparations to leave soon. I wanted to spend the final trimester of my pregnancy with my friends and family, there was no way I was letting them miss out on meeting the baby. (With one unfortunate exception of course...)

During our time here, Bertrand had been privately building our own small boat to get us home, once we intended to leave. It was ready and we would be leaving once we had enough supplies stored up. Even so, I had much to do before I left. I was currently giving instructions to the science staff about the project. I finished writing the final chapter of our story before doing just that.

Bertrand and I are leaving this place. We're going to sail to Briny Beach tomorrow starting at midday. He's built a boat, and he named it after me. Hopefully we can get back to shore with the supplies we have. The baby deserves to live a comfortable life in civilization, with other kids to play with and a proper education. If it's a girl, we're going to name her Violet. If it's a boy his name will be Lemony, after the man I've chosen to be its godfather.

As a final note, I pray that anyone who needs to learn the secrets of these apples we've created does not mean to use them unjustly.

Sincerely, Beatrice Anwhistle

I closed the notebook and went to hand it to Maya.

"I made a point to write down how the apples were made in my commonplace book. It can't leave this island, it might fall into the wrong hands and one of our enemies could use its knowledge against us," I said. "That's why I'm entrusting it to you."

"Understood miss, we'll protect it. And it's been an honor working with you."

I brought that notebook to detail our adventures together, but the circumstances changed. Me holding that book any longer made me a target once more. Just for a different reason. We had no way of knowing of any news regarding Olaf or Esmé, but sometimes no news is good news. It meant that while they might still be out there, they were at least not around us. I said my goodbyes to the rest of the staff and went to leave the lab to start packing my things.

"You're leaving?"

I looked over at Ishmael who was leaning on a makeshift walking cane he'd made and staring curiously at me. "Yes, we want to go back to the mainland to raise our child."

He nodded. "I heard that bit; it'll be good for you I suppose. I was just thinking..."

"Thinking about what?"

"Well, without you and Bertrand around who's in charge? The boss can't stay the boss if they're not around to give orders. Just simple logic." He said stroking his beard thoughtfully.

I suppose on some level he is correct, but I had already thought of this predicament.

"Maya is going to be put back in charge," I replied. "She's the lead scientist on the project and there's no one else I'd give the position over her. She's the most qualified."

Ishmael was silent for several seconds before answering. "Then we must be in good hands for you to think so, Mrs. Baudelaire."

With that, he limped away. His twisted ankle from his shipwreck was sure taking a long time to heal. Ishmael was the only one here who referred to me like that, despite the fact that he knew Bertrand and I were not married yet. Everyone else called me "Miss Anwhistle" or "Beatrice." It was an usual practice, but I thought nothing of it. It would become true after we have the baby; so it wasn't inaccurate to call me as such.

"He is a strange man though..."

~...

"Make sure you pack enough food Bea," Bertie said.

"I know honey," I replied rolling my eyes, "You think I don't know by now that I have to eat for two? The baby already has quite an appetite!"

He smiled, "I know I just want to be prepared for anything!"

"You worry too much. Maya says it shouldn't take more than two weeks to reach Briny Beach from here, according to our maps."

I glanced at my fiancé while packing and could tell that he wanted to ask something. "What's up?"

"So when we get to shore... where do you want to go first? And also how could we get there? We lost all the money we had between us when we crashed here, remember?"

I had not forgotten that. It was something that hadn't crossed my mind, since this was a small community that didn't require currency. All of its resources were either already here or shipped through V.F.D. And there was no need for anyone to keep money on them because there was no place to spend it. Perhaps this island wasn't as civilized as it would seem.

"We'll figure something out," I said.

Truthfully, I didn't know what we would do either, but we would find a way. We're volunteers, and we make do with what we have.

"I can only imagine how much Q and Karrie are gonna flip over this," He said.

"I can tell you there will be a lot of fangirling."

~...

Our boat, the Beatrice, was ready; though it still felt bizarre that it was named after me. We had enough supplies to last us the trip. And we had everything else we needed packed up in our bags. We had the ability to leave as well, thanks to the nice weather. (Hopefully, that lasts the whole trip.)

"Ready to go," Bertie asked.

"Ready."

I climbed into our small boat and Bertie pushed us out into the water before hopping in with me. He had set up a small engine to drive with and we were off into the bright blue waters once again.

For the next week we rode across the water. It wasn't a pleasant journey this time. While the weather was nice, we had to be careful about how much we ate every day to last the whole way through. And with my pregnancy that was a hard truth, but we managed for that time. We occupied our time by talking about things we were going to do once we got back. Such as getting a house, starting to get check-ups for myself to ensure the baby is healthy, among other simple things that needed to be done. Thankfully, with the baby around that meant I wouldn't have to work for a while, that was a plus.

And then one day during our voyage, I think it was the first Sunday after we left, Bertie woke me up from a nap to tell me that we had bumped into something. Turns out it was a submarine.

"Is it safe to ask to come aboard," Bertie asked.

"Yes it's perfectly safe," I replied smiling. "But you'll have to help me up."

Of course this was one of ours. After all, I knew this ship from the nice gold letters that spelled out its name, Queequeg.

~End of Chapter!