Rating: R
Category: Holiday story
Summary: Horatio and Archie celebrate Christmas together.
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone, much less these fine characters (if you know where I could buy them, please let me know *g*). I refuse to make any money off them in any event, so please don't sue me.
Notes: Thanks to Becky for the inadvertent help with the ending, and to Cori and kaly and the lurker for reading it through.
Spoilers: The Duchess and the Devil
True North
by Nicole D'Annais
Copyright 2001
Horatio strode through the passageways of the Indefatigable with as much decorum as he could muster. All around him, shipmates were preparing to go on leave, the high level of chatter a certain sign of excitement. He found it difficult to restrain his own anticipation of the upcoming leave, but he managed, somehow, to settle for a pace that would not be unexpected from Lieutenant Hornblower.
He reached the wardroom in time to see Archie exiting his own cabin, bag in hand. "Horatio, aren't you ready?"
"Yes, I'll just get my things. I had to see to something before I left."
Archie rolled his eyes. "For Heaven's sake, Horatio, we're not on duty."
"I still feel as though we should be. The Indy needs repairs--"
"A few days of patchwork. Nothing we need be here to supervise."
"Yes, but--"
Archie held up a hand. "No more arguments. The Captain has spoken, and thankfully you can't override him."
"You're right," Horatio conceded with a smile as he took the last few steps to his cabin. "Just let me get my things, and we'll go."
~~~
The last of the sun dipped into the ocean, giving the water the appearance of a bed of fire. Horatio shuddered; he knew all too well what it might be like were the sea to truly be on fire, and he had no wish to experience anything like that again.
"Cold, Horatio? Come away from the window."
"Just old memories, Archie," Horatio said as he crossed the room to join his friend. The fire crackled invitingly as he took a chair beside it, almost as warming as Archie's smile. "Yours seem to be more pleasant. Thinking of Christmases past?"
He laughed. "Hardly. I think this may be my best Christmas ever."
Horatio looked around at the sparse contents of the room that managed to be crowded with only one table, two chairs and a bed. "I hesitate to ask what your past Christmases have been, then."
"Well, you know the last few, at least," Archie said with a shrug of one shoulder. "The ones aboard the Justinian you can probably guess. Home was...nice, I suppose."
"Nice?" Thoughts of Christmases by the fire with his father, sharing a special meal, still made him smile.
"Well, we were never a close family, Horatio." Archie stirred the fire carefully. "So how were your Christmases?"
With a smile, Horatio leaned back in his chair. "Special. But then so is this one."
Archie returned his smile, and the two sat in companionable silence for several minutes before there was a knock at the door. Horatio frowned in confusion, but Archie just smiled and opened the door to admit the innkeeper's wife. She placed the tray she was carrying on the table, and Horatio tried not to notice as Archie handed her coins on her way out.
"Supper in our room?" Horatio said once she was gone. "Isn't that costly?"
"Consider it a Christmas present," Archie said with a grin. "To both of us. I'd rather spend my time up here with you than with the lot of drunken sailors downstairs."
With a laugh, Horatio relaxed. "Very well, when you put it like that...I accept."
They dragged the table over to the fire and talked as they ate. Eventually the food was gone, and they put the table back by the window. Horatio reached into his bag and pulled out a small package wrapped in brown paper before he returned to his seat. "Here," he said, handing Archie the package.
"What's this?"
"A Christmas present. Happy Christmas."
Archie smiled as he ripped into the paper. It fell to the floor as he turned the gift over in his hand. "A compass!" he exclaimed with a grin. He opened the lid, then looked up at Horatio. "It's beautiful."
"Spoken like a true sailor--I know no one else who would say that about a compass," Horatio replied. "I thought, perhaps, it would help you...should you ever be lost again...to find your way home."
"Oh," Archie said, his smile softening into something more intimate. He stood and took a few steps, watching the compass before he turned, pointing it at Horatio. "It seems to be leading me in that direction."
"What? But north is in that direction," Horatio said, pointing towards the window.
Shaking his head, Archie took several steps to his left and turned to Horatio again. "Still pointing towards you, I'm afraid."
"I'm sorry, Archie, it worked before I wrapped it. I don't understand."
With a laugh, Archie moved towards him, still holding the compass out at waist level. "Who said it wasn't working?" he said as he kneeled down beside Horatio. "There is true north, and then there is *my* true north. I believe the compass is working fine." The last words were a near whisper as he leaned in, his lips touching Horatio's lightly.
When Horatio would have deepened the kiss, Archie pulled back. "I've not yet given you your Christmas present."
Horatio admired the view as Archie went to the bed and pulled something out of his own bag. He looked at it for a long moment before he returned to the fire and handed it to Horatio. Curious at the way Archie sat back down in his own chair and stared at the fire, Horatio inspected the package further. A thin piece of cord held about an inch of folded sheets of stained and dirty paper together. His fingers fumbled with the knot until it finally came free, and he carefully unfolded the first page, squinting at Archie's small, fine writing.
Dear Horatio,
While I am still uncertain as to how I came to be in this prison, I become more certain with every day that I will not make it out alive. I have vowed to escape at every chance, and there is the very real possibility that I will be killed attempting to do so.
In the event of my death, I hope this reaches you. If not, at least it helps me feel closer to you, allows me to draw on that strength of which you seem to have an endless supply. The one thing I miss most is your presence. You made me believe that everything would work out for the best. I could almost bear being locked up in this stinking place if only you were here.
But then you would never be so foolish as to get caught like this.
I am sorry to have let you down. If I know you as I believe I do, you are no doubt blaming yourself for my current situation, but I hope you do not berate yourself too much. At least I am alive, and as long as that is the case, there is hope that I will escape and return to you.
Yours,
Archie
Horatio blinked up at his friend, who was still staring into the fire, his hands clenched tightly in his lap. "Archie...."
"Don Massaredo allowed me a little paper...there was no one I really wished to write to, at least not that I could send...so I just started writing those letters. I never actually intended for anyone to see them while I was alive, but I thought...I don't know what I thought." He reached for the stack of papers. "It was a bad idea."
"No." Horatio held the papers out of Archie's reach. "It's a wonderful present. I...I don't know what to say. Thank you seems so...inadequate." He placed them gently in the inside pocket of his coat, which hung on the back of his chair, and slid to his knees on the floor to take Archie's hands in his. "Thank you. I shall treasure them. Always." He reached up, his hand sliding around Archie's neck and into his hair, pulling his head down for a kiss.
Archie's arms slid around his back, pulling him up until they were pressed tightly against each other. Horatio's fingers felt for the knot of Archie's neck cloth, removing it with practised skill. His lips tasted the newly displayed skin there as his hands moved to the buttons on Archie's waistcoat. Off it went, followed by Archie's shirt, and then Horatio was free to explore his lover's chest with lips and hands, taking time to be certain nothing was left untouched or tasted.
His own neck cloth and waistcoat both disappeared under Archie's hands, those same hands that were roaming up and down Horatio back underneath his shirt, sending shivers all through him, pulling the shirt up and off and leaving him bare to the waist. Archie tugged on the waist of Horatio's breeches, pulling him up until he was straddling Archie's legs. Their mouths met again as Archie worked on the buttons to Horatio's breeches, undoing them quickly, his hand dipping inside to touch Horatio there, spreading fire through his whole body. Horatio pushed enthusiastically against his lover's hand, and then the world shifted beneath them.
"Ow!" Horatio rubbed his forehead and looked sideways at Archie, who was lying more or less beside him on the floor. "What happened?" With a laugh, Archie massaged the back of his own head. "I fear the chair was not designed for such activities," he said, trying to disentangle his legs from both the chair and Horatio's limbs.
"Oh. Is that all?" Horatio grinned as he got to his feet and held a hand out to Archie. "Perhaps we should try the bed."
"Excellent idea," Archie agreed, smiling back as Horatio pulled him up. He landed against Horatio's body with a jolt, and Horatio's arms tightened around him again as he leaned down for another kiss.
"Bed," Archie murmured after several more kisses. They managed to stumble backwards and fall onto the bed without letting go of each other. Horatio heard Archie's shoes hit the floor and quickly toed his own off before wrapping one leg around Archie's leg and pulling him as close as possible.
Breathing heavily, Archie broke their kiss, pushing Horatio onto his back and leaning over him, tugging his breeches down. "Honestly, Horatio, underclothes?"
"It's cold," Horatio said simply.
"Really? I hadn't noticed." Archie pulled his lover's stockings off slowly, tickling the bottom of Horatio's foot with the last.
Horatio jerked his foot away, giggling. "Archie!"'
"Horatio!" Archie returned, moving to straddle Horatio's knees, his hands taking their time to unbutton the short, wool drawers covering Horatio's midsection.
His fingers tormented his lover with each touch, until Horatio was thrusting up against the weight on his thighs, no longer amused. "Archie!" The cry was much more demanding this time, and Archie finished undoing the buttons, yanked the drawers off and settled himself back across Horatio's lap.
He leaned forward, taking great care to mould his body to Horatio's one inch at a time. As their lips met, Archie moved his hips, their cocks sliding against each other, and Horatio cried out, pulling Archie closer, his arms as tight as they could be and still allow movement. They moved together for some time, the fires slowly building until they reached an inferno that pushed them both over the edge.
They lay there for several minutes, each catching their breath, until Archie slid off to the side and snuggled in next to Horatio, and fell asleep. Horatio was exhausted, but his mind kept returning to the packet of letters in his coat pocket. Finally, unable to sleep, he slid out from under his lover's arm, careful not to wake him, and padded across the room to his chair by the fire.
Half an hour later, he put the last letter back in the pile, tied them back together with great care, and placed them back in his coat. His head was still spinning with the emotion in Archie's words, more emotion than Horatio would have ever thought could be carried by mere ink on paper. Even in his last letter, when he had been clearly ready to die, his feelings could not have been more obvious.
"Though I suspect they shall shoot me with my next escape attempt, I no longer fear it. I may never see you again in this life, so I shall go and await you in the next."
And he had signed it, "All my love."
Horatio looked over at Archie's sleeping form, sprawled across the bed. Though he assumed Archie knew his feelings as Horatio had always known Archie's, they had never actually spoken them aloud. War was a dangerous, nasty business, and admitting to such feelings seemed a curse in so many ways. Caring for someone was almost certain to lead to heartache; why open one's self up to such pain?
Except that they'd already done that. The feelings were there, whether spoken or not, and it would hurt no less were either of them to fall in battle. What harm, then, could it do to speak them aloud?
With a smile, Horatio climbed back into the bed, rousing Archie in the process. "Horatio?" he mumbled sleepily.
"I certainly hope so, or I should expect quite much more surprise from you."
Archie felt around under the covers until he found Horatio's side and pulled him close, running his hand up Horatio's back. "You're cold," he said, some of the sleep dissipating from his voice.
"I got out of bed."
"Well, don't do that," Archie said as he nuzzled at Horatio's neck.
Horatio laughed as he replied, "Yes, sir, Mr Kennedy." They kissed before Horatio pulled back. "Archie...what you said, earlier, about your true north...no guide is worth a tuppence without a map. And without you, I'm not certain I would know where I was." Horatio kissed him. "You know I love you?"
"And I you," Archie replied softly. "But why...?"
His hand threaded through Archie's hair, Horatio played with the silken strands for a moment before answering. "Because, were anything to happen, I wanted it to be said."
With a sigh, Archie smiled. "I had not thought I needed to hear the words."
"And I had not thought I needed to say them. I see we both still have much to learn."
"Indeed we do. Starting with exactly what happens when I do this, Mr Hornblower." Archie trailed his way down Horatio's chest with wet kisses, and Horatio relaxed, giving himself up to sensation and emotion and refusing to think of anything else. Christmas was a time for hope.
Everything else could wait.
---
END
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