Don't Leave Without Me
by Layne
Although he wasn't quite running, Richie Roberts was still in a big hurry as he left the tavern and headed toward the harbor where the Surprise was docked. At least, he thought to himself, she'll still be docked there if I'm lucky.
He knew it was right about the time they'd planned to set sail. Richie had come back from Ben Wade's cabin earlier, still unsure about his own decision to join their voyage. He'd been thinking about it from the time he'd heard about the plan.
After all, what was there to hold him here? All the women he'd been seeing since he'd arrived? There were women in the real world too, and it wasn't as though Richie had anyone special here.
At that thought, the vision of red hair, freckles, and blue eyes came back into his mind full-force. Anna. It had been two months since she'd left here. Two months since they'd had that nice dinner and Richie had taken her into the gardens and kissed her.
At least, he'd thought all it would be was a kiss. It had turned into a full-scale assault on the senses--for him as well as her. Within a couple of minutes, he'd been positive that they would wind up the evening upstairs in his bed, which was just what he'd intended in the first place.
Then, she twisted away, fighting him like a little tiger. In his amazement, Richie had let her go and stumbled back a couple of steps. "Anna-" he'd started to say, and then he'd seen the look on her face.
The cute little redhead with the freckles on her nose had looked horrified. And when she started crying, Richie had been horrified too. What the hell had he done? She'd seemed more than willing just a moment ago.
"I can't do this, Richie! I can't!" She'd gasped out.
"Why not?" He'd been thoroughly confused at this point.
"Katie," Anna had told him, as though that explained it all.
"What's Katie got to do with this?" Richie was still confused. Katie was the five-year-old niece that Anna was adopting. The daughter of her older brother, who'd died of an overdose.
"The adoption's not final! Don't you see? I can't put a foot out of line. Do anything that might make them question my fitness as a parent! If I do, they won't let me have her. She'll go to some stranger and I can't let that happen!"
Despite his frustration at the interruption, Richie felt sympathy for her. Anna was truly frightened that something might upset her adoption of the little girl. She seemed so devoted to the child. It had already made Richie think twice about his relationship (or lack of one) with his son, Michael.
They'd ended the evening there, with him apologizing to her, even though he felt she was panicked over nothing. Aside from any other considerations, how would anyone except the two of them even know about what they did? He had to respect her fear, though--her devotion to her niece.
Anna had left the next day without his seeing her again. In the two months since, he'd called, left her a couple of messages, but she hadn't called back. Richie had told himself to forget it, move on. Nothing had happened between them and it wasn't like there weren't plenty of other women around ready to give Richie Roberts a night in bed without any worries.
When the idea of joining this trip with the others had come up, Richie thought about it a lot. It was a way to actively, physically, move on, change things. When something inside him kept mentioning that it was also a chance to go into the real world--where Anna was-he'd pushed the idea aside. That couldn't be what was on his mind. Could it?
He was coming in sight of the dock now. It looked as though Jack Aubrey was preparing the Surprise to set sail. Tightening his grip on the duffel bag that he'd hurriedly stuffed his belongings into, Richie ran for it.