Title: Inevitable

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.

Author's Note: An answer to a prompt.

Summary: A look inside Max's mind after she and Eleanor sleep together for the first time. And then she has to go back to work, and she really doesn't want to.

I had never wanted to stay before.

Sex wasn't about romance; there was no cuddling afterwards or sweet conversation. Men came in to receive pleasure and Max did not disappoint.

But Eleanor was different. She always had been different, able to get under my skin, into my soul. When we had first met she had not even spoken a word and I had known in that moment that I wanted to know her. It was only after we had spoken one night at the tavern when she was tending to the bar on a slow night that I knew I wanted her. She was bewitching and completely oblivious to the effect she had on me.

I knew that she wanted me too; she was not shy in showing affection whenever I was around. But we both knew she did not want to have to pay Noonan for me. And I didn't want that either. If I was going to take Eleanor Guthrie to bed it was going to be because she paid for it. Of course that made things difficult. Time off for us was rare unless we were ill. So we had fought it, knowing that our want of each other was not wise. But it was like fighting a storm, it was inevitable. Being near her without being able to touch her had been impossible.

So we had found a way. When it was my turn for a night of "rest". The rules were known. I was not supposed to leave the brothel but so long as I was back before dawn I would not be caught. She was waiting for me in her room above the tavern. Gone were her work clothes and she wore only a night shirt, her hair released from its bun.

She had never been with a woman before. It had not taken long for the confident business woman who could make even the most hardened pirates piss themselves to become someone else entirely, shy and nervous. But I had never had a more attentive lover. Someone so intent on learning everything about my body and how to please me.

I never wanted to leave this bed. Our bed. As it had now become after hours of making love, we made this bed ours. But I had to, the sky was beginning to lighten and dawn was not far off. So, with a practiced grace I slipped soundlessly from the bed. Eleanor barely stirred; she looked so serene sleeping soundly. She looked different, younger, and more beautiful if that was even possible. I pulled on my robe and crossed the distance of the room hoping that it might ease the burning desire I had to return to the bed.

I must have spent too long deep in thought that I had not noticed that she had woken and was staring back at me. The moonlight catching in her eyes and without a word she beckoned me back to the bed. I was powerless to resist. And when I was next to her she sat up, pulling the sheet up to cover herself. She sat still insecure; I could see it in her eyes. She wanted reassurance that what we had done had not been a mistake. That I had enjoyed myself. But she wouldn't ask. Eleanor didn't ask for things like that, reassurances were not things she thought she could seek.

"I did not want to wake you." I could not resist reaching out and running my fingers through her golden hair. Letting its silkiness slide through my fingertips.

"You have to go." Eleanor didn't ask. She knew.

"I 'ad better, or Mr. Noonan will come looking for me and that would not be good for either of us." I could see the defiance in her, and it only made my affection for her grow.

"No one knows you're here. And I dare him to try and take you from me."

"Eleanor, we knew this is what would 'appen. If I am not in the brothel by sunrise Mr. Noonan will have me punished." I stopped her from whatever rant she was about to go on with a gentle kiss.

"I'm sorry." She whispered though I could not imagine what it was she was apologizing for. She had done nothing wrong.

"For what?"

"For wanting to keep you all to myself." A comment like that from anyone other than Eleanor would probably have made me take offense. That they wanted to claim ownership of me. But I knew that is not what she meant. She didn't want to claim me as her own; she wanted to be with me.

"Oh Mon Cherie, do you not know that Max is already yours? Not in body, but in 'eart and that is more important I think." I told her, seeing a smile come across her face as bright as the sun. It made me wonder if she was feeling the same thing I was.

"You should go. I will see you later?" She asked softly, leaning into my hand. A reassurance to me that she was not angry that I had to go.

"Oui. Go back to sleep. Dream of Max." I said kissing her one last time. Wanting to remember every detail of her kiss, the way it felt, the way her lips tasted and the way that it made my entire body tingle.

When I walked into the brothel Mrs. Mapleton was waiting for me. Sometime in the night she must have discovered I was gone.

"Where the fuck were you?"

"For a walk." I lied easily.

"Who was he? You think I can't smell the sex on you?" She circled me, sniffing me. But I did not care.

"No one." I told her knowing she wouldn't believe me. But I wasn't going to tell her who I was with and have Mr. Noonan go to Eleanor and demand payment. Eleanor would pay, so that I did not receive any punishment.

"We'll deal with that later. You have someone, been waiting for you for a while. Mr. Noonan will deal with you afterwards."

The threat would have normally frightened me, this time it did not. Nothing could ruin the mood I was in. The memory of Eleanor was still fresh on my mind. And I would cling to it as I went to collect the man that had been waiting. I recognized him as a man I had seen before, a disgusting man that always reeked of rum. But he paid well and would only be with me. It would not be a pleasant way to start the morning, but with any luck he had drunk enough that it would not last long.

I sat across his lap, my best and most welcoming smile painted across my face like a mask and I used French to seduce him. Smiling at Mrs. Mapleton as we passed her going up the stairs to my room, her response was a sneer but I didn't care. I did not even try to pretend to be enjoying my time with that man; he was too drunk to care anyway. So I allowed my mind to take me back to my time with Eleanor, letting it take me out of the present and back to more pleasant times.