Tom Holland Imagines

A Mother's Daughter {T.N.}

   Word count: 1270

   You were aboard The Essex as a scullery maid. Your mother was a whale woman as wild as that sounds, and it was your dream ever since you were little to be one too. You worked extremely hard just to be allowed passage on the ship since you being a woman is uncouth. You had to write several letters to Mr Mason and George Pollard whose family owned The Essex;  Mr Mason was planning to place Mr Pollard as Captain and you were pleading to be allowed on the ship as something. Owen Chase and Matthew Joy, who had basically known you as their little sister, tried their best to get you some placement among the vessel, but in the end, they couldn't really get you anywhere. 

   So you were stuck as a scullery maid, left to cook, clean, patch up the men's injuries, and protect yourself from some of the ravenous men on deck. Owen and Matthew tried to take turns supervising you to make sure that nobody tried to go after you, but they had duties of their own to tend to. You were the youngest on deck next to Thomas Nickerson, a dashing young man that had caught your eye. He always smiled at you whenever you passed each other and he was the easiest person to talk to. 

   But as much as I like him, you thought, he would never like a scullery maid with wild dreams like me.

   You were cleaning the deck when you all of a sudden you heard:

   "White water! I spot white water, Captain!"

   Everybody whipped their heads to where the crew mate was pointing. Sure enough, men were loading themselves into the whaling boats with rope and harpoons. You ran up to Owen.

   "Owen, please. This is all I've ever wanted to do, ever since my mother told me those stories. Please just let me come on one of the boats. I can row, at least," you pleaded.

   He thought about it before answering, "you can come on my boat, but you have to stay low until I say."

    You were very excited at the thought of possibly killing your first whale, something you had been wanting to do for almost half your life. You sneaked onto the boat, only to be caught by Thomas.

   "Y/N, what are you doing on this boat, you know it's not proper for you to even be here!" he whisper-yelled. 

   "Thomas, don't say a word to anyone else. Owen already knows; he's covering me," you reply.

   He glances off in the distance with a disappointed look on his face.

   "Thomas, please. You know this is what I've always wanted to do. Don't say a word," and with that, you glared him down to where he gulped he was so intimidated. You hid under Thomas's bench, right under his legs. When Owen said you could come out, a lot of the men were either surprised or upset that you were there. 

   "What's she doing here?"

   "Well done, Y/N. Don't piss yourself."

    You stood on the boat, inhaling the salty air, and getting wet with the waves. You felt like you were a part of the sea. You were surrounded by everything you've ever dreamed of. And then you saw it. A whale.

    "By God, He's mine!" you heard Owen shout. But when you looked at him, he winked at you. He then handed you the harpoon. It was a little heavy at first, but you very quickly became accustomed to its weight. You saw your target and mentally prepared yourself for the shot. You threw the harpoon with a strong thrust and it plunged deep into the whale's skin. The whale then dove deep with the harpoon still impaling it, but it swam around the back of the boat and the rope attached to it hit Thomas's hands and knocked you off-board. You felt pain on the side of your abdomen as you were plunged underwater with too much force. The salt water burned your eyes as you tried to open them, so you tried, but struggled, to swim back to the water surface. Once oxygen hit your face, you opened your eyes only to see blood pouring out your side. 

   "Help! Help!" you screamed. You were not in the mood to be eaten by any sea creature today. You heard a faint scream behind you. There in the distance was Owen's boat; they started to row towards you fast and once they pulled you up, Owen, Matthew, and Thomas swarmed you. 

   "Y/N, you're bleeding," Thomas pointed out, worried for you. When everyone arrived safely back to deck, you were patched up immediately by Thomas being that he was the cabin boy, and had a sweet conversation with him. The Sun was already beginning to set and you two just sat on the floor of the stateroom that had windows surrounding you of the sea. 

    "So, did I manage to kill it?" you asked in hopefulness.

   "You did," Thomas grinned at you. "You really are your mother's daughter according to Mr Chase and Mr Joy." You winced in pain as he put in another stitch. "I'm sorry, Y/N, I don't intend to hurt you. But my hands are hurting me."

   "Well, you've got to get the job done and then you're next for being patched up," you stared off into the distance for a moment. "I reckon Captain Pollard isn't very happy with his only maid going off to kill the first whale." 

   "He's just envious that he didn't get to kill his first whale," he replied. He finished stitching your side and you started to fix his hands. 

   "There, spick-and-span," you said as you tied the bandage around his hands. You glanced up and met his eyes. They had a sort of light in them, almost. You didn't realise how close your faces were until your noses were touching. He moved a bit closer and your lips were brushing against his.

    "You're so beautiful," he whispered and then closed the gap between the two of you. It started as a playful kiss, but then he deepened it with an almost thirst for you. Soon he was on top of you kissing you with a passion that would have gone further if it weren't for...

   "NICKERSON!" you heard and Thomas scrambled off of you with wide eyes. 

   "Yes, Mr Joy, sir. Mr Chase, sir," he said with a quiver in his voice. Meanwhile, you made yourself look a little more presentable. You grabbed his shaking hand and squeezed it as a very disapproving Matthew and Owen glared at Thomas. Owen opened his mouth to say something most likely to criticize Thomas, but before he could you kissed Thomas again; leaving him quite red faced. He ran out of the state room as fast as he could and Matthew went after him, leaving you with Owen.

   "What were you doing with Nickerson?" he asked angrily.

   "I was fixing his hands from earlier," you replied.

   "You know what I'm referring to."

   "Oh, that? That was just a kiss that needed to happen a long time ago."

   "You know, for a young woman, you're very opinionated."

   "You know, for a man, you're kinda ignorant." He glared at you.

    "If Peggy were here with us I'm sure at one point, you would do the same," you said to his dismay.

    He pondered his thoughts before answering. "Just keep it quiet. Don't let Pollard find out."

   "I promise." And with that, you ran out of the stateroom and onto the deck lit with fire and covered in whale matter.