Travels through Time, part Two
by Jamie

"Are you sure it is all right for me to be here? Horatio said that the Captain was not in a good humor. I don't want to make him more upset then he is all ready," Amy told Archie as they walked down the steps to the mess area of the ship.
"Don't worry about Captain Pellew. His bark is far worse than his bite. You have my word on it. What would you like to see? You said you wanted to get details for your stories." He said as he showed her around.
Amy had forgotten she had told him about that. Amy had a habit of speaking and not thinking about what she was saying while she was saying it. It had gotten her into trouble, but for the most part, people overlooked it.
"What part of the ship would I like to see?" she asked. She knew what part of the ship she wanted to see, but that would not be proper. She quickly thought about what she wanted to go and see on the Grand Turk.
She wanted to see the part of the ship, where they did the rat biting part. She wanted to see where they ate their meals and had the inquisition scene. She wanted to see the part where Archie fell out of his hammock and hit the floor while he had a fit. She wanted to know if the floor was really hard. She could not ask Archie about that himself.
Archie flinched when she talked about escaping prison five times. How would he react if she said, 'I want to see where you fell out of your hammock.' She could not ask, 'Did it hurt when you hit the floor? Or didn't you notice it, while you were in the middle of your fit?' No, she could not ask those questions, as much as she wanted to ask them. She had to think of others.
"Tell me something about the ship in general. I would love to hear that," Amy said when she could not think of a better question to ask.
"You are in his Britannic majesty's frigate, Indefatigable. The Indy, as we call her. She is 119 feet long, 34 feet wide and the rigging has more than 3 miles of rope. Most of the action on the ship is done on the quarterdeck," Archie said with a smile.
"Then why are we down here?" Amy asked.
Archie blushed a little and replied, "So, we don't get in the way of the action. I can show you some of the quarterdeck later, if you want."
"I would like that. Would you let me steer the ship?"
"Maybe not, but I will let you touch the wheel," Archie said with a 'what did I get myself' into smile.
Amy knew she was pushing it a bit far, and stopped pushing. She demurely asked, "What about where the men eat their meals? Is it a big room? What about you officers? You have a separate dining area, don't you?"
"How did you know that?" Archie asked.
"I found those areas of the ship, while I was sailing to England. This is not my first time on a ship, Lieutenant." That part was true. She had been on the
U. S. S. Constellation, The Queen Mary, a submarine and some other ships, she could not name of the top of her head.
Archie shook his head and said, "Yes, you stowed away."
"I did not stow away. When you stow away, you mean to do it. I did not mean to come to England. I always wanted to come, but I did not mean to come to England in the fashion I came," Amy said indignantly. That last part was true, too. Amy's dream always had the dream of coming to England one-day. But she wanted to see modern England, not 18th Century England. She still did not know what year it was. But since Archie was a Lieutenant, she surmised it must be around 1799 or so. Wasn't that the time Horatio got transferred to Sawyer's ship?
Archie sighed and explained, "I am sorry if I offended you Miss Bradley. I didn't mean anything by it."
His apologizing over nothing surprised Amy. She could get used to gentlemen behaving like gentlemen. Chivalry was not dead in Archie's age, was it sure seemed dead in her age. Just then she heard a seaman make a wise remark.
"What you got there? Look fellows, our Mr. Kennedy has gotten himself a woman," The brown haired man, who looked like Sean Gilder said. This must be Styles.
"How much is he paying you sweetie?" the Oldroyd lookalike said.
Archie snapped at the men and replied, "Belay that, all of you! She is a lady. You should not talk to her like that. I expect an apology out of every man jack of you!"
Amy's eyes widened. The phrases are the same. She expected to hear, 'I said it and I mean it' next. But that was Horatio's line and not Archie's line.
"Sorry about that ma'am," Oldroyd said.
Styles mumbled, "Why is it they can have the fun and we can't?"
Amy smiled at them and wondered where Matthews was. Maybe he was upstairs on deck with Helm Boy.
They walked toward an area where there were some guns and hammocks.
"This is called the gun deck. This is where we fire the cannons, where the sailors sleep and where we meet our lady friends," Archie said to her.
"Do you have any lady friends of any significance, Archie?" She asked.
"Archie, is it now. Not Lt. Kennedy?"
"Could I be one of those lady friends?"
"Miss Bradley, you and I have just met. I would like to call you my lady friend. But, I don't think it would be proper to have you as my lady."
"Why not?"
"Father would not approve. He never approves of anything I do. But, I am sure that he and mother plan on me getting involved with a title. You know, keeping the nobility noble."
"Are you nobility? Lieutenant?" she knew he was, but she could not tell him that she knew.
"I am the third son of an Earl. I don't have a title, that is most likely why my parents would like me to marry a title."
"Who said anything about marriage? I know I didn't. But, if I did, I would want to marry for love. Don't you want to marry for love?"
"Of course. I hope to fall in love with a titled woman. I had a girl named Mary, but she left me because of my. . . my being away at sea."
Amy knew about that. She always assumed that the Mary he called out to, before Horatio conked him on the head with the tiller, left him because of his fits. Fits was something you don't tell someone about, especially someone you have just met.
Amy liked this Archie Kennedy. He seemed to be everything she hoped him to be. But, wouldn't it be that way if you dreamed it. Amy lifted up her skirts to check out her leg. She would have a bruise on her leg if this wasn't a dream. Who in the right mind would dream a bruise from when they fell into the ship?
Archie watched her do this and asked, "What are you doing?"
"I am checking something. Haven't you seen a woman's leg before? You men treat it like looking at my boobs or something," Amy said as she pulled up her skirts. She did have a lot of skirts under her dress. She was astounded at the fact that she was not that hot or held down by so many petticoats. She finally got to her skin and there it was -- a big, black and blue bruise. It was tender to the touch, too.
"You hurt yourself. Are you all right? Did you do that coming into the ship?" Archie asked her with concern.
"It is nothing. It only hurts when I touch it. I bruise easily. You need not worry," she told him. In the back of her head, her mind was saying, 'worry, worry'. She liked the fact that Archie Kennedy would care enough to even think of worrying about her.
"We are coming upon the Captain's cabin. Follow me," Archie said as he took her hand.
"Are you sure we should go in?" Amy said in a hesitant tone.
"I told you the Captain will not bite. He may bark at you."
"That is what I am afraid of," Amy said as Archie knocked on the door.
"Come in, " a gruff voice said.
"Good day, Captain, Lady Pellew," Archie said as he bowed.
"Good day, Mr. Kennedy. Who do you have with you?" Captain Pellew asked.
"This is Miss Amy Bradley. She needs some work to get passage back to Pennsylvania. I was wondering if per chance, Lady Pellew needed any help with the children. I am sure Miss Bradley would like to help and lend a hand," Archie said graciously.
Amy did not know what to say. What if she never had baby sitted anyone in her life? He took for granted that since she was a woman that she knew how to look after children. She did know what to do. She helped raise her nieces and nephews. But, this time when the kids were rowdy, she could not turn on a video and have it lull them to sleep. What if Lady Pellew said, 'no'? She didn't know Amy from Adam. Would she let a complete stranger in her house?
Lady Pellew smiled kindly at her. She said in a gentle voice, "If Mr. Kennedy vouches for you Miss Bradley, I would be glad to have you stay in my home."
Amy opened her mouth in a gasp. She had a place to stay. She would not be sleeping in the streets. Thank goodness. She didn't know who to hug first, so she just said, "Thank you! You don't know how much this means to me!"
"You seem like a nice, honest woman. I hope we can keep your trust," Captain Pellew told her.
"You have my word on it, sir!" Amy said to the Captain.