Begin!

~Quigley's POV

I spent 10 months total on the Queequeg and 8 of that was in an official relationship with Fiona. She's the best thing to happen to me since I lost my parents. I can't wait to be reunited with my siblings so I can introduce them. I'm sure they'll love her.

At first we didn't know how to tell her stepdad what we were up to. So we would hide our romantic interactions from him until we could figure something out. Anywhere remotely private we could find on the ship was where we could usually be found when we weren't doing assigned jobs.

And this worked for the first month... until...

Fiona and I were in the library together one day, and after some time spent talking we, of course, ended up kissing. It wasn't a heavy make out, but it could have gone that far. She was happily sitting on a table while my hands were at her waist as we kissed.

"Ahem."

The two of us quickly pulled apart at the sound of Mari clearing her throat. Fiona looked extremely embarrassed and ashamed. Mari was smirking at us, she usually did. I felt all the color drain from my face as I realized how much trouble I was going to be in.

"So you are..." Mari left the question open for us to finish.

Fiona didn't say anything, but she did nod after a moment. Mari looked between us as I felt my heart trying to break out of my rib-cage in fear of my punishment.

"Please don't tell my stepfather..." Fiona pleaded.

Mari sighed. "You're lucky I like you kids. Your secret is safe with me. But you know flirting with other volunteers is frowned upon while on duty."

I finally spoke up, "Can I make an argument?"

Mari nodded so I continued.

"We weren't flirting, we were kissing."

I grinned in triumph for that insane logic leap. After all, I'm pretty sure we'd spent the past 2 months flirting openly before confessing our feelings. It was frowned upon, sure, but there's really no way to enforce it.

Mari started chuckling. "Ok you win. I'm happy for you two. Carry on... but uh don't let the captain see you in that position because I don't think he'll be as forgiving." She left.

Fiona smiled at me, "That was surprisingly smart."

"I have my moments! Though I can't help thinking you deserve someone way smarter than me..."

Her smile faded a bit, "Well you deserve someone way more beautiful than me..."

That comment irritated me. I know I'm not as smart as my brother, he's the one who has most of the brains between us, but I can't see why she thinks she's not attractive enough for me.

I smiled and brushed some hair out of her face, "But you are beautiful. Breathtaking actually! But I like you for your personality, not just your bewitching good looks."

"Well what if I don't care that you're not that smart? Sure I could have found someone on my level, but that'd be kind of boring, wouldn't it? I like you just the way you are. Now can you stop trying to read my mycology books? You don't need to try to understand my interests to impress me."

"Good because I can't understand a lot of the words in them!"

After the third month of being together we were eventually caught by her stepdad. (Thankfully it wasn't a super heavy make out session... that would have gotten me killed...)

Though his reaction was much tamer than I was expecting, he was fine with it. He saw us together and simply told us to get back to work. Of course I was later pulled aside by him and he made a very soft threat about "if you ever hurt her..." and that was all he said. I assume Fiona wasn't kidding about the possibility of him doing something horrible to me if I went over the line. I knew the line and I was not going to cross it!

I've already died once... I don't want to do it for real...

After the fourth month, something else happened. My dark purple commonplace book got ruined by me, accidentally. I knocked over my soda while I was working on my maps. Fiona said that they had plenty of spares stocked up and let me go pick out a new one. I was a little upset because that notebook was a gift from my parents. It was one of the few things I had left of them besides my own appearance.

Though to be fair, I hadn't originally wanted the purple one. The day our parents got us our notebooks they were very limited in supply for some reason and the only colors to choose from were dark green, pitch black, and dark purple. Duncan chose the dark green one; it's his favorite color. Our parents thought that Isadora would take the purple one, but she asked if it was ok for her to have the black one instead, so I took the purple because I didn't want my sister to be disappointed. I didn't mind that much at the time, but some people did think it was weird for a boy to have such a colored notebook.

Mari showed me the closet where they keep extra supplies and sure enough there were plenty of notebooks to choose from. I grabbed a red one without a second thought.

Mari gave me a confused look. "You don't want one that looks the same?"

I blinked and thought about it for a moment before smiling at her. "I like this one better; I've been meaning to get a new one anyway."

Mari didn't reply, but a little gleam in her eyes made me think that she understood exactly what I meant.

After the fifth month, I started receiving telegrams from Jacques with updates on how my siblings were doing at Prufrock. He told me he wasn't able to interfere because of his volunteer work keeping him busy, but they weren't having such a great time on their own.

Hearing about how cruel Prufrock is to orphans didn't help me feel better about the fact that it'd probably be years before I see Duncan and Isadora again. It was awful not having them around... mom and dad always said we would never truly be apart no matter what. Especially mom, she's probably up there screaming down at us for having to keep our distance for now. We were a miracle for her; seeing her babies separated was something she'd have never stood for.

I told Fiona about these worries and she helped comfort me. She knows how it feels to not see a sibling you love for a long time. She misses her brother as much as I miss my siblings. Only in her case, her brother was alive, or if he isn't then she doesn't know, while to my siblings I'm a ghost. But Fiona was here to help, and that did make it better. She was my lovely therapist and I practically worshipped the ground she walked on.

I wanted to stay with her forever... but that's not how this story goes.

~...

Fiona and I were reading together in the library again with our downtime when it happened. Mari ran into the room breathing erratically and looking panicked as hell.

"The comm lines are going crazy! There's been another fire!"

Fiona and I quickly dropped our books and rushed out to the main deck where the captain was watching the telegraph machine closely as it prepared to print out several Volunteer Factual Dispatches at once.

I know it was probably selfish to say but all that was going through my mind when I heard those horrible words was: "Please don't be Prufrock... Please don't be Prufrock..."

"Do we know who was hit," Mari asked instantly.

"Aye I've got a direct line to Kit Snicket herself," The captain replied solemnly. "She's working on details."

Right as he said that a number of telegrams printed out and he read them instantly for us.

"The Baudelaires," He read softly.

For once, I saw the captain pause. I've spent enough time on this ship to know that Captain Widdershins is the kind of man who doesn't stop for almost any reason. So seeing him stop reading so abruptly was enough for me to understand that these people had been dear friends.

"Were there any survivors," Fiona asked worriedly. I put my arm around her waist to give her comfort.

Her stepfather nodded, "Their children were spared; all three of them. Kit says she's trying to contact her brother to give him the bad news."

He sighed heavily before continuing. "We lost Quinten and Karen... then Isaac Anwhistle gets eaten by leeches, his death was no accident, and our most fierce and formidable agent falls into disrepair from grief, and now we've lost Bertrand and Beatrice too? Our enemies are tougher than we thought..."

"So you knew the Baudelaires," I said quizzically.

"Aye... Bertrand and Quinten were best friends. You'd have thought they were brothers; they were inseparable growing up. The Baudelaires left the organization 14 years ago because they had their first child. They stayed in contact with Quinten and Karen for a couple years after that but your parents were still involved with us, even after having you. Things got dangerous, so they ceased contact."

The four of us watched as the telegraph continued printing out reports on the Baudelaire fire. While this happened I saw Captain Widdershins stroking his mustache and mumbling something to himself. He said a soft plea to Fiona's mother, Samantha, to watch over their old associates. I don't know if Fiona heard him, but she was probably thinking the same thing since she mentioned having gotten to meet the Baudelaires when she was very young.

Once the telegrams finished printing, the captain handed a specific one to me; it was from Jacques. I let go of Fiona and she and Mari went to make something to calm us down. I instantly regretted reading the paper I was given.

Quigley, pack your things and tell the captain to drop you off at the harbor tomorrow morning. I need an extra set of eyes for my investigation. I'll be waiting in my taxi.

-Jacques

I felt like ripping the paper in half. But Jacques is my guardian... and I have to do as he says. I knew staying here was only temporary from the start. If Jacques needs me now then who am I to argue? I showed the paper to the captain and he agreed to do it. Fiona and Mari came back after a while with some warm drinks to keep us calm in this dire situation. The first rule of being a volunteer is to never freak out when there's a fire, even if you weren't there to see it.

All I could do was look at Fiona and think about how hard this was going to be.

Once the submarine started making its way to my Vigorously Fixed Destination, I took Fiona into the library with me once more so we could talk.

"I suppose the easiest way to start this would be to show you this." I handed her the telegram.

She read it then looked at me with sad but understanding eyes. "So you have to go?"

"Yes and I wish I didn't but... I do... I'm so sorry Fiona."

She responded by giving me a tight hug. "It's important, I know that, and so do you. The world is falling apart as it is, that's why we have to do our part. If Jacques needs you why should I be selfish and try to stop you from going?"

"Because I love you and I don't want to go," I blurted out.

"I love you too, but if you go then you could be with your siblings again."

"You're right but... what if something happens to me out there? And I never see you again? You'd have no way of knowing."

She smiled softly, "I have faith in you. I mean they already tried to kill you once. And from where I'm standing it didn't work very well."

I couldn't help smiling at that. "Always making me feel better, that's what I love about you."

She gave me a soft kiss before saying the words I knew would come up in this situation.

"So are we going to break up now?"

"That's... um... it would be logical but I... I don't want to."

"Neither do I, Quigley, but why stay together if we're not physically together?"

"It's not that," I replied, "It's because I don't want to break up with you. It's not a matter of whether or not we're physically together it's that I want to keep you as my girlfriend no matter what. So unless you're going to break it off, you're stuck with me, doll."

"Well Quiggles we're stuck together then, because I don't want to end this either. Promise me you won't fall for any land girls while you're gone?"

"I'm not a cheater. You can trust me completely."

"...Can I also ask you a favor?"

"Of course."

She reached into her uniform pocket and handed me a small picture of her and her brother. It was an old picture, in it Fiona looked to be about 6 while Fernald was 19. It was obvious they were related, the two not only had the same facial features from their biological parents but they also had the same kind, caring eyes; except Fernald's were a different color from his sister's.

"Keep that one for now, I've got others, but I want you to just... if you find him please give him a message for me. Just tell him I really miss him."

I tucked the photo away in my commonplace book for safe keeping. "I'll do it if I can, but he won't know me."

"Just say my name and he'll listen to you, I promise. Fernald is a good man. He won't hurt anyone unless they try to hurt me."

I nodded, "If I find him. I'll pass it on. It might not change anything but at least he'll know you still care."

"Thank you, I appreciate it. If my stepfather knew what I just asked you to do he'd be livid."

"Then it's our little secret... I should uh go pack up my things..."

~...

The captain said we'd reach port by noon tomorrow. I checked over twice to make sure I had everything.

"Ready?"

I looked at the doorway and saw Fiona watching me.

"Yeah I got everything. Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"I was about to do that... but I had an idea."

"And what's that?"

She stepped towards me and grabbed my hand. "Want to stay in my room tonight?"

"I'd rather live thank you," I replied.

"I'm serious... my door is always closed and if this is our last night together for what could be a long time I want to spend it with you."

I thought about it. Ok weigh the options: 1. You get to cuddle with your girlfriend for one night before you possibly never see each other again. 2. You get caught in her room cuddling your girlfriend, get thrown overboard, and definitely never see each other again.

"But either way... cuddling with your girlfriend," I reasoned with myself internally.

So of course I said yes. Fiona made sure the hallway was clear before leading me to her room. It was the one place on the ship I had never been in because I wasn't allowed. And inside it looked like most every other room on the ship aside from a few personalizations here and there. She also had a nicer looking bed than the ones in the barracks. We made sure no one had seen us both enter the room and shut the door behind us. She went into a side door and came out minutes later in some night clothes and set her glasses gently on her bedside table. We got into bed together and fell asleep with her under my arm.

It was a peaceful night; the kind that I hoped to be able to have again soon.

~End of Chapter!

Wanted to make this a nice long part, and there will be more, don't worry!