As You Wish

“While I do agree that this picnic has been very nice…” Estelle trailed off as she gazed over the cliffside and across at the roaring sea. Finding the courage to address the aggravating issue clouding her mind, she took in a deep breath and turned to Drake. “Did you confront your mother?” Drake lowered his head to hide his frustrated expression.

“I did.”

“And?” Estelle questioned when Drake failed to provide more information.

“She did not understand at all. She could not comprehend what I was trying to tell her, about what you mean to me- I am so sorry, Estelle, I don’t know what to do anymore…” Drake huffed with defeat. With a churning stomach, Estelle reached across and gripped his hand to comfort both him and herself. Ever since Drake had mentioned Allesandre, Estelle had doubted that they would ever gain his mother’s approval. After all, how could any mother be content with her son giving himself to a woman born lower than him? She had held hope that love would prevail, just like it did in the stories she read as a child, but now she knew that they were nothing but imaginary tales.

“I understand, you know. You deserve to be with someone better than me.”

“Well, I don’t know if there is anyone better in this village,” Drake muttered lowly. “You deserve more than to be a fisherman’s daughter. You could have my servants running around after you, taking care of you, and you would never lift a finger to do a second of work ever again.” Estelle smiled at the thought as she glanced back at the sea.

“I don’t think I could ever adjust to that,” she remarked. “But I shouldn’t even think about it, since we cannot be together.”

“I’m sorry,” Drake mumbled, perking up a few moments later. “What if there was a way for us to become closer to one another? To be intimate together despite what my mother says?” Estelle raised her eyebrows and their eyes met, both full of hope and excitement.

“How? How could we do it?” she asked and Drake leaned in to kiss her.

“Why, we could… consummate our relationship,” he suggested, causing Estelle’s cheeks to rapidly redden. “I’m sorry if that was too forward, it’s just-”

“No, no… A lowborn don’t hold that sort of thing so sacredly anyway,” she shrugged, trying to act calm about the topic. Drake ran his hand as gently as he could down the side of her arm.

“Would you like to? No one would find us up here, it’s too secluded,” he proposed and Estelle gazed into his eyes. She wanted more than anything to have him as hers, and perhaps having sex with Drake would finally convince him to stand up to his mother, or run away with her.

“Yes,” she breathed, allowing herself to become lost in his kiss.

“I have never… swam naked in the ocean,” Killian said as he locked eyes with Estelle’s. She sat across from him, the campfire burning brightly to their side. He smirked as he watched her raise the bottle of rum to her lips and take a sip, proving that she had swum naked in the ocean. “Really?” He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively and she laughed, shaking her head as her cheeks flushed red.

“Oh come on, I lived in a fishing village, of course I’ve done that before,” Estelle countered before pausing to think of the next statement. “All right, I have never had sex in a bed.” Killian’s eyes widened and his lips parted from shock and intrigue.

“What?” he stammered and Estelle shrugged.

“Are you going to drink or not?” she questioned, wanting to learn his truth. Killian took another swig but his forehead remained creased.

“So you’re saying that you’ve never had sex in a bed? Where have you done it then?”

“My first was on a cliffside, a huge drop that gave a spectacular view of the sea. Rather dangerous, now that I look back on it,” Estelle replied before pausing. “You probably would have liked it, actually. I bet the thrill would have really got you going.” Killian smirked.

“Aye, no doubt it would have,” he muttered to himself, hardly believing that he was having this conversation with her. But loosening up was one reason why he drank rum, and he was glad that Estelle was able to relax with the drink too. “Where else then?”

“In a barn. Behind bushes. On the beach… I guess he was never decent enough to provide me with a bed,” Estelle continued, trailing off and wondering why she hadn’t read more into those signs when she was actually in the moment.

“A bed’s always a good place to start,” Killian remarked as Estelle drank more rum.

“Does it only feel good for men?” she wondered with her head tilted to the side.

“No… What do you mean?”

“It just… I don’t know, it always seemed like Drake was getting more out of it than I was. He enjoyed it the most, he was the one who wanted it, I was just sort of… there…” Estelle trailed off as she started to view her love life a lot differently. Leading up to her escape to Neverland, Drake had increasingly guided her to have sex as opposed to sitting and talking in a garden or taking a nice stroll on the beach. It hadn’t felt right to her at the time, but she could see now how naive she had been to ignore that feeling. The combination of her deep thoughts and the alcohol allowed her mind and her heart to heal a little more.

“Look, I’m sorry that you had to endure that, but it’s truly his fault. He obviously had no idea what he was doing,” Killian pointed out quietly as he scratched the back of his neck with his hook, drawing Estelle’s attention to it.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Isn’t that what we’ve been doing for the last however long with that game?” he pointed out and she rolled her eyes.

“How do you do it even though you’re missing a hand?” she tentatively asked, hoping that she wasn’t stepping on his toes by saying such a thing. Estelle relaxed the second Killian’s distinctive flirtatious grin flickered across his lips.

“There’s more involved in sex than just hands, love. I know how to use what I’ve got,” he replied and Estelle had to hide her blush by tilting her head back and taking another drink.